Golden Knights vs Jets overtime win: Hertl OT PPG lifts Vegas

Tomas Hertl scored on a 4-on-3 power play with 13 seconds left in overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre.

The victory was Vegas’ first of 2026 and snapped a five-game slide (0-3-2). It also came the hard way. The Golden Knights trailed 2-0 in the second period, tied it in the third, fell behind again inside the final six minutes, then answered again before finishing it on special teams. Winnipeg’s loss was its 10th straight.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy admitted there was relief. “Absolutely,” he said. “We’ve been very close. Our game isn’t a mess.”

Hertl ended it with a power-play tip-in at 4:47 of overtime, 38 seconds after Winnipeg defenseman Dylan Samberg was called for tripping at 4:09. Mitch Marner put the puck to the net and Hertl tipped it in, sealing a comeback that had been simmering all night.

A slow start, then the night turns serious

Vegas opened with an early power play 16 seconds in but could not convert, and Winnipeg grabbed the first punch at 5:16. Cole Perfetti worked across the crease and finished a backhand for a 1-0 Jets lead.

The period later took a scary turn when Jets defenseman Haydn Fleury was injured at 13:16 and did not return. The game grew more physical from there, with Keegan Kolesar and Adam Lowry fighting at 13:17, and Vegas went to intermission still looking for its legs and still down a goal.

Cassidy said his team had “a little more of an honest conversation” after the first period, pointing to cleaner decisions with the puck and a more direct attack.

Stone’s late strike flips the script

Winnipeg made it 2-0 at 12:04 of the second when Luke Schenn’s long shot found its way through traffic.

Vegas finally got life late in the period. With Samberg in the box for high-sticking, Mark Stone scored a power-play goal at 19:09, finishing in tight off feeds from Pavel Dorofeyev and Marner. The goal cut the deficit to 2-1 and kept the Golden Knights within one heading to the third.

Two comebacks, then the calmest finish

Vegas tied it 2-2 at 8:13 of the third when Brett Howden stepped into a one-timer off a cross-slot pass from Noah Hanifin, with Hertl also earning an assist.

The Jets pushed back at 14:56 when Kyle Connor snapped a wrist shot to restore a 3-2 lead, but Vegas answered 59 seconds later. Reilly Smith cleaned up a rebound with a backhand at 15:55 to tie it 3-3, with Brandon Saad and Ben Hutton picking up the assists.

“I don’t think belief’s ever a problem,” Smith said. “The trickier part is not falling behind so often.”

Overtime brought heat and a key stop from Carter Hart, who finished with 17 saves. Then Vegas got the 4-on-3 it wanted, and Hertl made it count.

“We possessed the puck more,” Hanifin said. “Sometimes you need big saves, and we got them.”

Up next for the Golden Knights: