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Ex-Rangers center Brett Howden scores Game 1 winner for Vegas in West final
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- Ex-Rangers center Brett Howden scores Game 1 winner for Vegas in West final
Former New York Rangers center Brett Howden continued his playoff scoring surge for the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night, netting the game-winning goal in a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at Ball Arena in Denver.
Vegas led 2-0 early in the third period when Howden blocked a shot by Colorado defenseman Sam Malinski just as Vegas defenseman Ben Hutton stepped back onto the ice after serving a tripping penalty. Hutton picked up the puck, raced in on a 2-on-1 break with Howden and shot, but Colorado goaltender Scott Wedgewood made the save.
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However, the rebound popped into the air; Howden got a glove on the puck to deflect it into the crease, then tapped a backhander into the wide-open net at 1:32 to give Vegas a three-goal lead.
Howden's ninth goal of the playoffs proved to be the game-winner when the Avalanche got within 3-2 on goals by Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog before Nic Dowd hit the empty net to put the game away.
It also kept him one behind teammate Pavel Dorofeyev for the postseason goal-scoring lead. Dorofeyev became the first player to reach double figures when he scored a power-play goal at 15:33 of the second period.
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Howden became the sixth player in NHL history to have a six-game goal-scoring streak on the road during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored for the second straight game and the fourth in Vegas' past five games. His nine playoff goals are just three shy of his regular-season total of 12 in 58 games.
The 28-year-old was a member of the Rangers for three seasons before being traded to the Golden Knights in July 2021. He became a useful bottom-six producer with Vegas and helped his new team win the Cup in 2023 by scoring five goals and adding five assists in 23 postseason games.
But Howden is an even bigger contributor for the Golden Knights this spring. He tops all players with three short-handed goals — tying him with seven other players, including Wayne Gretzky, for the most in a single postseason. He also leads all skaters with three-game winners this postseason. That includes one overtime goal – the third of his career.
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He hit all three of those categories on April 29, when Howden became just the second player since 1933-34 (when the NHL began tracking goals by type) to score a short-handed winner in a playoff game that required multiple overtimes. His historic goal gave Vegas a 5-4 double-overtime win over the Utah Mammoth in Game 5 of their first-round series.
Former Rangers center Brett Howden nets winning goal in Game 1 of Western Conference Final
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Howden is also plus-7 and averaging 16:36 of ice time through Game 1 of the West Final – more than he's averaged in any regular season or previous postseason. His impact extends beyond goal-scoring, and he's earned the confidence of coach John Tortorella.
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"He's a tremendous utility guy for the team," Tortorella explained earlier in the postseason, before being fined $100,000 by the NHL last week for failing to speak with the media after Vegas' series-clinching Game 6 win over the Anaheim Ducks . "He plays all three forward positions, power-play guy, penalty-kill guy, face-off guy. I didn't know much about him before I came here. He has certainly brought his game to a different level."
The line of Howden, Mitch Marner and William Karlsson , who returned from injury at the beginning of the second-round series against Anaheim, clicked right away when Tortorella put them together.
"Coaches just try different things, and if something clicks it's usually two guys that can play well with one another," he said after the Game 1 win. "That one had some glue to it right away.
"It's an important line for me because I can use them not only offensively but on both circles, in our end. It's a very important line, especially with 'Stoney' (forward Mark Stone ) out."
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The Tampa Bay Lightning took Howden in the first round (No. 27 overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. They traded him to the Rangers on Feb. 26, 2018, before he ever played a game in the NHL, in a deal that sent defenseman Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller to Tampa Bay . Yes, THAT trade, which got New York's rebuild off to a shaky start after issuing The Letter.
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Howden had 16 goals, 49 points and was minus-29 during three seasons as a bottom-six forward with the Rangers before general manager Chris Drury sent him to Vegas on July 17, 2021, for defenseman Nick DeSimone and a fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft. In all, he has 163 points (74 goals, 89 assists) in 489 NHL regular-season games – and 26 points (18 goals, eight assists) in 56 playoff games.
Howden played a bigger role with the Golden Knights than anyone could have predicted, to say the least.
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"That's what we all love about playoffs," Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon told The Athletic earlier this month. "It's what players love about playoffs. It presents those kinds of opportunities. Brett has been a really good playoff performer."
Howden played on a line with Stone and Chandler Stephenson during the Golden Knights' run to the Cup three years ago. He filled the role of a net-front presence and scored the OT winner in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars .
After signing a five-year, $12.5 million contract ($2.5 million average annual value) with Vegas on Nov. 22, 2024, Howden enjoyed his best NHL season, finishing with career highs of 22 goals and 40 points before scoring the game-winning goal in Game 1 in the Golden Knights' first-round series against the Minnesota Wild last spring and an OT winner in Game 5.
Injuries limited Howden to 58 games this season, and he dropped to 12 goals and 22 points. But he's been filling the net this spring.
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"He can play anywhere," McCrimmon told The Athletic. "He can go on any line and make that line better. He has size and speed, so those things are what make him a really effective player at this time of year."
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