Silver Knights win first playoff game at Lee’s Family Forum on Connelly’s OT winner, beat Barracuda 5-4
The Henderson Silver Knights had the puck, the pressure and most of the night’s chances. They still needed overtime to cash it.
Trevor Connelly scored 38 seconds into OT to lift Henderson past the San Jose Barracuda 5-4 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their best-of-3 Pacific Division first-round series at Lee’s Family Forum. Henderson outshot San Jose 39-22 and took a 1-0 series lead but had to answer two different pushes before Connelly ended it.
A fast start, then a quick reminder
San Jose struck first at 5:43 of the opening period when Kasper Halttunen beat Carl Lindbom to make it 1-0. Henderson steadied, then finally got paid for its zone time late in the period.
Lukas Cormier tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 17:48, taking a feed from Connelly with Tanner Laczynski also earning an assist. The shot totals told the story early, too, as Henderson held a 15-6 edge in the first.
San Jose lands the punches, Henderson stays standing
The Barracuda grabbed control in the second period. Jimmy Huntington scored at 9:27, and Colin White made it 3-1 on a power-play goal at 12:50.
Henderson needed a response before intermission and got it from its finisher. Raphael Lavoie cut it to 3-2 at 13:40 off a setup from Ben Hemmerling and Cormier, and the building finally sounded like playoff hockey.
“I thought the second goal he scored was a big goal for us,” coach Ryan Craig said. “Just in the sense of you get it to at least one going into the intermission.”
Craig said the message at the break was simple. “We talked in the second intermission. We had to go out and win a period, which we did,” he said.
A third-period swing, then the tie that forced overtime
Henderson came out in the third and did exactly that. Jeremy Davies tied it 3-3 at 5:27, finishing a play created by Connelly and Dylan Coghlan. Sixty-seven seconds later, Lavoie scored again at 6:34 to give Henderson its first lead, 4-3, with Laczynski picking up the assist.
San Jose did not fold. Igor Chernyshov tied it 4-4 on a power-play goal at 10:41, with Oliver Wahlstrom and Filip Bystedt getting the assists. In a best-of-3, that is the type of moment that can swing a series, and it set up a nervous finish.
“It’s two good teams,” Craig said. “We’re fortunate to put ourselves in a good spot with winning, but it’s going to get even harder as we go on here.”
Connelly ends it in 38 seconds
Overtime barely had time to breathe. Matyas Sapovaliv started the winner with an assist, and Braeden Bowman picked up the secondary helper, as Connelly snapped the shot past Laurent Brossoit at 0:38 to end it.
Connelly finished with a goal and two assists and was named the game’s first star. Lavoie, who scored twice, was second star, and Cormier, who posted a goal and an assist, was third.
“As soon as I got to the circle, I was thinking kind of a little push shot, low blocker,” Connelly said. “Fortunately, it went in.”
Davies said the group never looked rattled, even when the game tilted. “Patience is a big part of it,” he said. “Tonight I thought we were pretty patient and we got better as the game went along.”
The atmosphere matched the moment
Wednesday was the first Calder Cup playoff game ever played at Lee’s Family Forum, and Craig said the crowd showed up despite a quick turnaround.
“I’m really very impressed by our fans,” Craig said. “I thought the atmosphere was great.”
Up Next
Game 2 is Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m. at Lee’s Family Forum. Henderson can close the series with a win, while San Jose will be playing to extend its season.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
