The story of Carter Hart hits triumphant chapter in Game One against Ducks

Even when Carter Hart signed with the Vegas Golden Knights back in October, the odyssey of his professional career continued to go through its ebbs and flows.

From his stint with Vegas’ AHL affiliate Henderson Silver Knights in November to being injured early in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in January, Hart’s early days in his second lease on life in the NHL were tenuous. A late-season reunion with head coach John Tortorella would help spark one of the best stretches of play of his career, leading him to being trusted with the starting job in the playoffs.

Despite the pressure of having to man the net in the postseason, especially on a team with legitimate cup aspirations like Vegas, Hart has managed to pull it off so far.

The goaltender would reward the team for keeping the faith, putting together a stellar 33-save effort to push the Golden Knights to a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game One of the second round.

“He was our best player tonight,” said Tortorella about Hart’s performance in net. “We struggled to find our game, but Carter was outstanding.”

Hart was the story of the first period, stopping all 11 Anaheim shots in the first 20 minutes as Vegas struggled to match the speed of a younger Ducks team.

Despite Anaheim dominating through the first period and in the early part of the second, Vegas would ultimately be the team to break the ice. After another early penalty kill, Mitch Marner once again found a way to make an impact offensively. Finding Brett Howden streaking to the net, Marner timed a pass perfectly to land directly on his linemate’s stick, and Howden was able to take sole possession of first place on the Golden Knights with his fifth goal of the playoffs.

“Like I spoke about after our series against Utah, I feel like our chemistry is really growing,” said Marner about his connection with Howden and their continued contributions in all aspects of the game.

“We’re doing a lot of good things together. I really appreciate his defensive game too, just how steady he is. Not afraid to block shots, he gets in spots. Obviously, he can win faceoffs as well, which is big for myself just coming to find myself in that position. It’s nice to have a guy that can go on either side and then be able to win them.”

Anaheim nearly tied it up with an incredible spin move from Leo Carlsson, but an extra pass from

Jackson LaCombe gave Hart and the Golden Knights a good break to keep their lead at the end of the second.

The penalty kill would come up large early in the third once again, capping off a perfect four-for-four effort shorthanded against a Ducks power play that shot at a blistering 50 percent rate against the Edmonton Oilers.

“PK was great tonight,” said Howden. “There’s a lot of calls, obviously we’d like to stay out of the box. They got a good power play, but I thought our PK did a really good job.”

Despite strong offensive pressure from the Golden Knights in the third period, including a power play that saw Mark Stone land two amazing chances in front of Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal, the Ducks would find a way to strike with six minutes remaining after Mikael Granlund landed a shot into a yawning cage.

Just over a minute later, however, the Golden Knights struck right back. After an icing was waved off by the linesmen, Pavel Dorofeyev was able to weave the puck through two Ducks defenders before locating Ivan Barbashev directly in front of the net. Barbashev was able to put the shot past Dostal, and the Golden Knights were able to head into the final five minutes with the lead again.

“I just tried to put a puck deep and I think I saw Jack [Eichel] on the far side going through,” said Barbashev about the sequence leading to the goal.

“I thought for a second he hit him, that’s why they waved it off. They turned it over, and [Dorofeyev] made a great play. I think he skated by two players, and just gave me an empty net.”

The Golden Knights would fend off another late push from the Ducks with the empty net, and Marner capitalized with a lob shot to close the book on Game One.

“Just unreal,” said Hart on his reaction to Marner’s empty-net clincher. “I said to [Marner], that was a 360 degree lob right there, so that was quite a bounce.”

Despite the positive results, the Golden Knights know they have to be better going forward in the series. Anaheim’s speed gave them fits for good chunks of the game, adding another wrinkle to a series that will be hotly contested throughout.

Fortunately, the Golden Knights will get the opportunity to make corrections in Vegas on Wednesday for Game Two, hoping to put a stranglehold on the series before it heads over to Orange County.

“It’s which team finds its game quickest has an advantage. We’re fortunate we found a way to win,” said Tortorella. “They played well, some of it had to do with them. We have some things to work on.”