Golden Knights’ skid continues with 5-3 loss to Blackhawks

The Vegas Golden Knights’ losing skid extended to three games with a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the Untied Center on Saturday.

Tomas Hertl had two goals and an assist, while Victor Olofsson scored his 100^th goal and 200^th career NHL point for Vegas (29-14-3). Ilya Samsonov made 18 saves.

The Golden Knights have lost five of their last six.

“It’s not super ideal, right?” Golden Knights forward Mark Stone said. “Even last game to this game, you see what makes you successful. I think we kind of gift-wrapped a few of their chances, a few of their goals. They get two on the power play. Back-to-back nights with a game kind of where we want it. Just make mistakes. It’s preventable mistakes for us.

“A little adversity is good this time of year, but it’s only good if you work your way out of it. You’ve got to go home and just get back to the drawing board and be ready to battle and find a way to win a game.”

Here are takeaways from the game:

Hertl Powers Golden Knights

Hertl has been on first, scoring nine points in the last five games (four goals, five assist)

It seems like the forward is finding a rhythm with Vegas. Hertl scored back-to-back goals in the second period against the Blackhawks to tie the game at 3-3. He gave the Golden Knights a fighting chance.

Hertl has been one of the positives during this tough stretch for Vegas.

Poor Way To Finish the First

Olofsson gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 9:29 of the first period.

Then, things turned quickly in the final four minutes of the first period. Lukas Reichel tied the game 16 minutes in. Then Tyler Bertuzzi scored the first of his two goals on the power play 40 seconds later. Taylor Hall capped the flurry for the Blackhawks at 19:42 to take a 3-1 lead entering the first mission.

The Golden Knights have given up six first-period goals in the last four games. They’ve only scored once during that stretch.

“We had a bad six minutes,” Cassidy said. “We did that the other night in Carolina, so it’s a bit of an issue for us right now, our bad stretches. We’re not putting out fires and limiting the damage. We did a much better job of that earlier in the year. But we got it back to 3-3. We overcame that part of it.”

More Discipline Issues

For the second straight game, the Golden Knights committed a penalty late with the goalie off the ice.

It was a too-many-men call on Saturday that derailed the comeback effort. This time, it was a Stone slashing penalty that essentially put the game out of reach.

The Golden Knights took another five penalties, though one was a fighting penalty and another a roughing call for defending a teammate.