Golden Knights vs. Canucks: Marc Gatcomb's 34-Second Answer Lifts Vegas to a 3-2 Win in Vancouver

Rogers Arena was still buzzing from Jonathan Lekkerimaki's tying goal when the Vegas Golden Knights' fourth line hopped over the boards and ruined the vibe. Thirty-four seconds after Vancouver drew even late in the second period, Marc Gatcomb was standing at the side of the net with an open cage and a loose puck, and the Canucks never caught up again.

Gatcomb's tap-in at 18:28 of the second held up as the winner, and Vegas beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Sunday night. Mitch Marner scored his first goal of the season, Victor Olofsson added a power-play goal, and Adin Hill made 18 saves in his first start of the year.

A Second Period That Never Sat Still

Vancouver had the better of the first 20 minutes on the scoreboard. With Tomas Hertl in the box for hooking, Paul Cotter tipped Filip Hronek's cross-ice pass past Hill at 18:52 for a 1-0 lead. It was Cotter's fourth goal in four games, and he did it in his 300th NHL game, per NHL.com.

The second period was where all the plot lived. Marner tied it at 9:01 with the kind of goal that gets clipped and posted within minutes. Brayden McNabb's point shot hit the skate of Canucks defenseman Zeev Buium and skittered across to Marner, who was wide open. Kevin Lankinen slid hard to his left, Marner calmly dragged the puck back to the middle of the slot, and Lankinen was left stranded like a cartoon character who just stepped on a rake.

At 14:30, with Tom Willander off for tripping, Vegas went to a five-forward power play and it worked. Lankinen stopped a Jack Eichel one-timer, Mark Stone grabbed the rebound at the goal line and slid it across to Olofsson, who buried it before the goalie could recover. Vegas led 2-1.

Vancouver pulled even at 17:54 when Lekkerimaki jumped on a loose puck off the rush and snapped a shot from a sharp angle in the right circle that squeezed under Hill's arm. Then, 34 seconds later, Braeden Bowman tried a wraparound, the rebound kicked to the far side, and Gatcomb tapped it in for his first goal since signing with Vegas as a free agent on July 1.

Stars Who Showed Up

Marner was the headliner, playing 21:56 and making the prettiest play of the night. He admitted afterward that he was thinking pass before he saw the opening, which makes the finish even better. McNabb, a defenseman not usually confused with an offensive weapon, picked up the only assist and has four assists on a three-game point streak to start the season, per NHL.com. His explanation: "Just getting lucky."

Stone's assist on the Olofsson goal was his 398th point with Vegas, NHL.com noted, leaving him two shy of becoming the third player to reach 400 points with the Golden Knights. Eichel added an assist of his own.

Hill was steady when it mattered, making nine saves in the third period. The AP also credited him with a key stop midway through the third, when he came sliding a long way out of his net to rob Liam Ohgren on a short-handed breakaway. He owned the Lekkerimaki goal without being asked twice. "Obviously, the second goal there, I got to have that one back, but the guys responded well and scored the next shift, which was huge," Hill said.

For Vancouver, Cotter stayed hot. His power-play goal extended his season-opening point streak to four games and six points (four goals, two assists), and Elias Pettersson's assist pushed his own point streak to all four games. Cotter, who has bounced between all four lines, described his value simply: "Probably my best asset is being versatile up and down the lineup on left wing, center, right wing, whatever."

The Shift That Decided It

Every coach preaches the shift after a goal, and this game is the case study. Lekkerimaki's goal should have been the momentum swing that carried Vancouver into the intermission. Instead, the Vegas fourth line of Gatcomb, Bowman and Nic Dowd went straight back out and turned it around. Gatcomb was blunt about the goal his own goalie allowed. "I'm sure 'Hiller' wants that shot back, but for us to be able to respond that quickly and you know tilt the momentum back in our favor was huge for the game," he said.

Marner was just as impressed. "Those three guys just buzz," he said.

Neither team scored in the third, and Vancouver, which had blocked 20 shots, could not muster enough pressure to tie it even after pulling Lankinen for an extra attacker.

Stats That Matter

• 34 seconds: Time between Lekkerimaki's tying goal and Gatcomb's winner.
• 20: Shots on goal for Vancouver, a team that scored 17 goals across its first three games.
• 1-for-5 vs. 1-for-3: Power-play results for Vegas and Vancouver, respectively.
• 25: Saves for Lankinen, a solid rebound from allowing eight goals on 20 shots in Thursday's 9-7 loss to Edmonton.
• 398: Stone's career points with Vegas after his assist, two shy of 400.

Where Things Stand

Vegas improved to 2-1-0 and bounced back from a 4-3 loss to Anaheim on Friday. The AP noted the Golden Knights have now won eight straight games against Vancouver, dating to Dec. 19, 2024. Next up is a trip to Seattle on Tuesday.

Vancouver slipped to 2-2-0 and 1-2-0 at home on the second half of a back-to-back, a night after beating Calgary 4-1. The Canucks open a six-game road trip on Thursday in Carolina. Cotter, for one, is not buying the doom forecasts. "I'm pretty happy with how we've been doing," he said, adding that "we have a very egoless group."

Closing Take

This was a game decided by the guys who do not get the billboards. The fourth line won it, a defenseman with a modest offensive reputation set up the tying goal, and a forward signed in the summer cashed the rebound. In a league obsessed with star power, Vegas won this one the way a great ensemble cast carries a movie: the leading man gets the poster, and the character actors steal the scene. Vancouver will not need a scouting report to know where this one slipped away. It was those 34 seconds.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes and game notes from NHL.com; additional details as reported by the Associated Press.