ELMONT, N.Y. — Carter Hart was supposed to have Tuesday off. Instead, he was back in goal for the Vegas Golden Knights in Sunday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Rangers.
Of course, that means working overtime. Or, in this case, a penalty shootout.
Unlike his previous two appearances in the Vegas net, this one took longer than usual, but things didn’t end well for Hart and the Cavaliers, as they were unable to score in four rounds of shootouts, ultimately losing 5-4 to the New York Islanders, with Emil Heineman scoring the game-winning goal.
The Isles swept the Cavaliers in the season series, with both wins coming at the end of the regular season.
Yes, it’s a point on the road that any team would covet. But for Vegas, it was the ninth time this season that they failed to score a second point in overtime or a shootout.
They took the man advantage in overtime when Kyle MacLean set up high-sticking Brett Howden in the penalty area with three seconds left, and Bruce Cassidy used four forwards — Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev — to go to the W. But they were rejected by Ilya Sorokin, who, as always, kept his team in it.
“We have to find a way to make that happen,” Cassidy said of the high-powered offensive unit with a front four. “That’s something we have to think about.”
Everyone believes Hart’s next game will be Thursday in Philadelphia against his former team, the Flyers. It’s unlikely he’ll play three games in a row after Tuesday. So look for Akira Schmid on Thursday.
The Knights are looking to win five straight and three in a row on the road in the Metropolitan Division. It looked like they were about to do just that, as they took a 2-0 lead over the Islanders in the first period. But the Isles always seem to play hardball against Vegas, and Tuesday was no different. They scored three points against Hart and the Cavaliers, but they gave up two goals in the third quarter, one to Ivan Barbashev and the other to Dorofeev with 14 seconds left.
Barbashev’s goal was as stunning as it was lucky, as he touched the puck with his stick and hit it past Sorokin with one hand, tying the game at 3-3 with 1:27 left in the third period.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever scored a goal like this,” he said of his 11th goal of the season.
But the Isles, while scrappy, are also lucky. They were on a third-quarter power play when Vegas guard Shea Theodore snapped his stick. He couldn’t get another branch, and the game basically became a 5-on-3 situation. Bo Horvat, who has had an excellent season so far, took advantage of the opportunity to give his team a 4-3 lead, a lead that remained until the final moments when Dorofeyev replaced Hart on the bench for a sixth attacker.
So why is Hart in this game?
“We discussed the week ahead with Carter and this is the plan we came up with,” Cassidy said. “We have two more games this week, one each, so we’ll go from there.”
Obviously, Hart’s return to Philadelphia and the circumstances surrounding his departure from the Flyers will draw a lot of attention and commentary over the next 48 hours. Schmid, who last played five days ago against his former team in New Jersey, will likely score on Thursday and Hart plays in Columbus on Saturday.
He played pretty well on Tuesday, stopping 23 of 27 shots he faced. It’s not his best effort yet, but he’s not terrible either.
Overall, this was the second game in a row that the Cavaliers didn’t play their best hockey in the second period, an issue that has come up multiple times this season.
“I think it’s hard, especially on the road, when you get a lead in the first quarter, you just have to deal with the push that your team is going to bring,” guard Noah Hanifin said. “We knew they were going to do it. But we were probably better in the second quarter than we were in the last game. When we get into trouble, it’s usually of our own making, which means we can fix it. We just have to focus on things in the second quarter, long-term changes, that kind of stuff.
“But to score five out of six points on the road so far, that’s a positive. To fight back again in the third period and score six-on-five, that’s huge. Unfortunately we didn’t get that done in overtime, but there’s definitely some positives to take from the game.”