Pacioretty helps Golden Knights eliminate Blackhawks

[August 19, 2020]  Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in Game 5 of their Western Conference series on Tuesday night in Edmonton, becoming the first team to advance through the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Mark Stone, Alec Martinez and Alex Tuch also scored, William Karlsson had two assists, and Robin Lehner made 23 saves for top-seeded Vegas.

Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane scored, and Corey Crawford made 35 saves for eighth-seeded Chicago.

The Golden Knights won the first three games of the best-of-seven series before the Blackhawks earned a 3-1 win on Sunday.

Tuch drove to the net with Chicago rookie defenseman Adam Boqvist trying to hold him off, but Tuch pushed in his own rebound from in close to give Vegas its first lead 4-3 at 1:34 of the third period.

Tuch appeared to score again with just under five minutes left, but the goal was disallowed following a review because of incidental contact with Crawford.

The Golden Knights had fallen behind 2-0 for the second straight game, but twice came back to tie the score in the second period.

Martinez scored the first power-play goal of the series for the Golden Knights to tie the score 3-3 at 7:28.

Toews gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 10:32 of the first period.

Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) scores a goal against Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner (90) during the second period in game five of the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Gerry Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

He went behind the Vegas goal and forced Brayden McNabb to hurry the puck up along the wall. Brandon Saad intercepted it and centered to Dominik Kubalik, whose backhand was saved by Lehner, but Toews skated in and pushed the loose puck through his pads.

Saad, Dylan Strome and Connor Murphy made a slick series of passes coming into the Vegas zone and DeBrincat finished the play with a tap-in to make it 2-0 at 18:19.

Pacioretty scored his first goal of the postseason with 31 seconds left in the first period to cut the lead to 2-1.

Stone scored 58 seconds into the second period to tie the score at 2-2.

Kane was left alone in front of Lehner following a turnover and scored to give Chicago a 3-2 lead at 4:02 into the period.

--Field Level Media

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