The Vegas Golden Knights played what was perhaps their best third period of the season so far in their win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
The Golden Knights entered the third period down 2-1, giving up two unanswered goals in the second. From there, they would score three unanswered goals to secure the 4-2 victory on the road.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said the comeback was a matter of what separates good teams and the rest.
"We all talked about it," Cassidy told the media on Thursday. "And the messaging was about expectation and what good teams do compared to average and bad teams. And they do not beat themselves. And I thought in the second period, that was a problem for us. And the guys obviously talked about: 'OK, what does that entail, not beating yourself?' and [they] went out and executed very well, managed pucks. Shift length was good. Second effort. Structure in the D-zone. All those things came through for us in the third period.
" ... During the year, you're going to throw some video out. There's also days you keep video and you keep it on the shelf. The Toronto game was a good example of that, and the third period was a good example in San Jose. Those are ones you go back to and say 'This is what we look like when we're a good hockey club.' And that's what happened in the third. So good for the guys to get it done.
"Doesn't matter the opposition to me, doesn't matter that it was back-to-back, all that stuff's irrelevant. Just going out and recognizing that you got to go out and clean up your game and then actually doing it in all three groups."
The Golden Knights will face another divisional opponent in the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on Friday at 3 p.m. PDT.
Follow along with VGK Today for live updates throughout the game.
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