The Vegas Golden Knights rallied but came up short in a 5-4 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.
Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist – their goals coming late in the third period with the extra attacker on. Tomas Hertl and Brett Howden also scored, while Shea Theodore had four assists.
Adin Hill made 24 saves.
“It was good resiliency, good push to get us a point at least,” Howden said. “Obviously, there are things that we want to clean up to play a better game. We don’t want to be giving up four goals a night, that’s for sure. I mean, you can say it’s a bit of a step in getting the confidence up [to come back late].”
Vegas fell to 29-13-4 on the season and are in the midst of a four-game losing streak.
“Nobody’s panicking, I’ll say that. We’re not in the room tearing the walls down,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s my job to drag it into the fight certain parts of the year, right? Like right now, it’s a little bit of the dog [days of] January. … This is a month we’ve got to push through. We’ve built ourselves a cushion, so psychologically, maybe that is also going on, where some of these teams now are playing catch-up. Their urgency level is higher than ours right now.”
Mental Mistakes Cost Golden Knights
The Golden Knights gave up two goals int the closing seconds of the first and second period, which put them two goals behind in both spots.
It has been an issue for Vegas. The Golden Knights have given up four goals in the final two minutes of periods in its last two games. That’s not a formula for winning hockey, Cassidy said.
“We have veteran guys who understand the time and score and situation,” Cassidy said. “Those are concerns. Good teams typically don’t do that. We’re a good team, and we should stop doing it if we expect to win because there are a lot of different areas of our game that are self-inflicted.”
Hertl Stays Hot
Hertl has been one of the bright spots for the Golden Knights during the losing streak.
He scored his ninth power-play goal of the season and 16th overall in the first period. Hertl extended his point streak to five games (five goals and five assists). He has seemingly found his stride with linemates Victor Olofsson and Pavel Dorofeyev.
If Hertl continues his strong play when the Golden Knights get out of their slump, then it will be a significant boon for the team.
Theodore Sets New Career Highs
Theodore had a strong night against the Blues.
He tallied four assists, which set a new career high and tied his season-best with 38 helpers. Theodore set that mark in the 2021-22 season. He ranks fourth in the league with 43 points for a defenseman.
While it’s doubtful that he will win the award, Theodore is quietly having a Norris-caliber season on the offensive end.
