Mark Stone blocked a shot on the defensive end and by the time he spun around, a pass was waiting for him with nothing but clear sailing ahead.
A burst of speed — even as tired as he was — and a wrist shot later, he was being mobbed along the boards by teammates.
The captain to the rescue.
Stone scored on a breakaway 50 seconds into overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Tuesday night and take a 3-2 lead in their second-round series.
“He was exhausted and you saw how hard he skated all the way down the ice,” teammate Alex Tuch said. “He’s the heart and soul on this team. He wears his character on his chest. He’s the captain we’ve always wanted. It was a huge goal.”
Max Pacioretty corralled the puck after two blocked shots on that end and fed it to Stone, who was off to the races. Stone beat Philipp Grubauer on the glove side to hush what had been a boisterous crowd.