The Henderson Silver Knights looked gassed, looked cooked, and still refused to lose.
Tanner Laczynski tipped home the power-play winner at 1:51 of double overtime to lift Henderson past the Colorado Eagles 4-3 on Monday night at Lee’s Family Forum, evening the Pacific Division semifinals at 1-1. The finish came after a night of blown leads, heavy shifts, and two teams trying to take the same inch of ice.
“Determination would be the word that comes to mind,” coach Ryan Craig said. “Both teams just kept coming, kept swinging. We’re fortunate to come out on top.”
Bowman breaks the seal, then the ice tightens
Henderson opened the scoring at 7:12 of the first when Braeden Bowman jumped on a chance and beat Trent Miner for his second goal of the postseason. Matyas Sapovaliv and Jonas Røndbjerg assisted, and it felt like the answer the Silver Knights needed after being shut out in Game 1.
Colorado settled in, and the game turned into exactly what this series has promised, no space, no freebies, and every touch contested.
Colorado flips it, Cormier pulls it back
The Eagles took control in the second. T.J. Hughes tied it 1-1 at 4:07, then Alex Barré-Boulet put Colorado ahead 2-1 at 10:47 off a feed from T.J. Tynan.
Henderson did not blink. Lukas Cormier tied it 2-2 at 14:07, finishing a play that started with Lucas Johansen and came back to him with Bowman involved again.
“In the playoffs, sometimes you need special players to do special things and tonight Lucas Cormier did some special things,” Craig said. “He continues to be dangerous throughout these playoffs.”
Trading punches in the third
Colorado regained the lead at 6:49 of the third when T.J. Tynan made it 3-2, with Barré-Boulet and Tristen Nielsen on the assists.
The response was immediate. Viliam Kmec tied it 3-3 just 28 seconds later at 7:17, finishing a look created by Jackson Hallum and Mitch McLain.
From there, it turned into survival hockey. Both teams had stretches where legs went heavy and shifts got long, and neither side found a winner in regulation or the first overtime.
“We had guys played a lot of hockey tonight,” Craig said. “There’s no room for both teams. It’s physical. It’s playoff hockey.”
Special teams decided it in the end
Colorado’s power play went 0-for-3. Henderson went 1-for-4, and the only conversion ended the game.
After Henderson killed a high-sticking minor to Hallum late in the first overtime, Colorado took a holding penalty to Gavin Brindley at 1:03 of the second overtime. That gave Henderson the opening it needed.
Cormier fired the puck through traffic, Trevor Connelly picked up the second assist, and Laczynski got the tip that ended it. Laczynski’s goal was his first of the playoffs, and it came on the shift that finally broke the game.
“We came down to winning the special teams battle,” Craig said. “We got a one power play goal tonight and it was the difference in the game.”
Jaycob Megna framed it the way playoff veterans do. “If you win those battles and you win the kind of the net front on both sides of the ice, I think you’re going to come out on top most nights,” he said.
Goalies held the line
Miner finished with 38 saves on 42 shots. Carl Lindbom stopped 36 of 39 and played 81:23, earning the game’s third star behind Laczynski and Bowman.
Laczynski said the group leaned on Lindbom when overtime got sloppy. “We got a great goaltender in Carl back there and shut the door when we needed him,” he said.
What it means now
Henderson got the split it needed before heading on the road. Still, nobody in this room is pretending anything got easier.
“It’s a grind of a series,” Craig said. “We’re happy to get the win before we head out on the road.”
Up Next
The series shifts to Colorado for Game 3 at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, May 6. Game 4 is 6:05 p.m. Saturday, May 9, and Game 5, if necessary, is 6:05 p.m. Sunday, May 10.
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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.
