LAS VEGAS — You probably don’t know who Dave Rogowski is. But after Tuesday, you’ll remember his name for sure.
The man who serves as the Vegas Golden Knights’ video coach may have saved his team’s season. After the Minnesota Wild had scored with 1:15 remaining in regulation of Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead and a chance to lead the best-of-seven first-round series 3-2, Rogowski noticed that Gustav Nyquist was offsides prior to Ryan Hartman’s go-ahead goal.
He notified assistant coach Dominique Ducharme who let head coach Bruce Cassidy know he should challenge the play. Cassidy did so, the goal was wiped out as Nyquist was indeed ahead of the play and the game stayed 2-2, eventually heading to overtire.
That gave Brett Howden, who had been battling an illness the past few days, to be the hero as he scored 4:05 into OT to give Vegas the 3-2 win and the 3-2 lead in the series.
Game 6 will be in St. Paul at 4:30 p.m. (Pacific) on Thursday.
“It was a great pickup by him,” Cassidy said of Rogowski’s keen eye. “It saved our ass.”
“He’s good under pressure. He hasn’t gotten many wrong.”
Initially, Hartman's goal was reviewed by the officials and in Toronto as there was a possibility he had kicked the puck in past Adin Hill. While that was being reviewed, it gave Rogowski additional time to watch the entire play again. He spotted the offsides, notified the bench and shortly after, Minnesota's goal was disallowed after the goal initially was deemed good.
But that was only part of the drama.
Howden’s game-winner came against Marc-Andre Fleury, the beloved former Golden Knights goaltender who came in for the third period after starter Filip Gustavsson took ill and had to leave the game. Fleury didn’t see a whole lot of shots — seven in all— but he was on point until the last one as Vegas’ fourth line came through.
“I’m doing OK,” Howden said when he was asked how he managed to summon the strength to play through his malaise. “Everybody goes through this. I regathered myself and felt better and better. But it was nice that we could close it out early.”
Howden was the beneficiary of some hard work from his teammates. It started with Keegan Kolesar keeping the play alive in the Minnesota end. Defenseman Nic Hague managed to keep the puck in after the Wild attempted to clear the zone.
Tanner Pearson was first to the puck and as the Wild collapsed on him, the veteran winger made a backhand feed to Howden, who was left alone to the right of the Minnesota net. Before Fleury could react in time, the puck was past him and in, setting off a wild celebration among the 18,441 inside T-Mobile Arena.
It wasn’t likely Fleury, who at 40 years old has announced his retirement at the end of the season, was going to see any action in this series. It was going to take an injury, or, in this case, an illness to Gustavsson for him to play. But his insertion into the
game had the VGK fans chanting his name as they realized he was in the Minnesota net.
His appearance was one of many twists and turns in Game 5. It saw both teams playing firewagon hockey in the first period, with back-and-forth rushes and exciting plays at both ends that had the Knights score a shorthanded goal as Jack Eichel fed William Karlsson to beat Gustavsson while Kirill Kaprizov answered on the Minnesota power play 13 seconds later to tie it.
Mark Stone had taken a pass from Eichel and beat Gustavsson from the blue line to put the Knights back in front 2-1 with 6:36 left in the period. But the game slowed down and eventually became a slog of an affair as Matt Boldy tied it early in the third and neither team was generating much offensively.
But eventually, the Knights won the challenge and ultimately, the game. Minnesota coach John Hynes said while the loss stings, he’s not ready to give up.
“We had a chance the last two games. It just didn’t go our way,” he said. “It’s not a race to three. It’s a race to four.”
For the Knights, they’ll have two shots to close things out, beginning Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center. If Game 7 is necessary, it will be Saturday at T-Mobile.
“We’re happy in the spot we’re in right now,” Howden said.
They can thank the guy they call “Rogo” for being the unsung hero Tuesday night and putting them in such an advantageous position.