The Vegas Golden Knights suffered their third consecutive loss and finished their three-game road trip with an 0-3-0 record after falling 5-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday night at United Center.
Vegas gave up three goals in the final four minutes of the first period, proceeded to tie the game at 3-3 in the second period but then yielded another late goal with 62 seconds left in the frame. The Blackhawks scored the lone goal of the third in the 5-3 win.
The Golden Knights have now lost five out of their last six games, all in regulation. Vegas trails the Jets by four points with a game in hand and is tied with Edmonton for first place in the Pacific Division with identical 29-14-3 records.
The Golden Knights were in the second half of a back-to-back after losing 3-2 to Carolina on Friday.
As has been the case in recent games, the Golden Knights had dominant stretches in Chicago and also had several lapses, which proved to be the difference in the game. The first such lapse came late in the opening frame when Vegas gave up three goals in under four minutes.
The Golden Knights had a 1-0 lead after Victor Olofsson netted his 100th career goal at 9:29 of the first, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Alex Pietrangelo past goaltender Petr Mrazek.
With four minutes remaining in the period, Lukas Reichel’s impressive individual effort erased Vegas’ lead. Reichel flew into the offensive zone, chipped the puck to himself to get around Nicolas Hague and then beat Ilya Samsonov with a quick forehand finish.
Chicago proceeded to score two more before the horn sounded on the end of the period, the first of which came just 40 seconds after Reichel’s tally. It was a power-play goal for Chicago, as Tyler Bertuzzi deflected a point shot to give Chicago the lead.
With just 18 seconds remaining in the period, Vegas failed to win a puck battle in front of the net, and Taylor Hall cashed in on the rebound on Chicago’s third or fourth chance.
Three goals in 3:42 turned the game upside down.
“We had a bad six minutes,” Bruce Cassidy said. “We did that the other night in Carolina, so that’s a bit of an issue for us right now, is 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, so we overcame that part.”
Indeed, they did.
It started with Cassidy putting the lines in a blender, which he continued to do throughout the game.
Three minutes in, Hague dropped the gloves with Patrick Maroon to try to create a spark. Then, the game evolved into the Tomas Hertl show.
Hertl, who has been excellent in recent games, scored back-to-back goals in the span of 6:32 to reset the score at 3-3. For the second game in a row, his skill was on full display.
After collecting a stretch pass from Shea Theodore, Hertl drove to the net — bypassing Martinez on the way — before beating Mrazek.
Hertl scored again at 14:42, this time on the man-advantage, as he got a high tip on a Theodore point shot.
His efforts made it a brand new game.
The Golden Knights were dominant for most of the second period, ultimately leading 37-10 in shot attempts, 17-3 in shots, 17-5 in scoring chances and 4-0 in high-danger chances with an 85.54 percent expected goal share.
However, the Blackhawks had the last laugh, as Seth Jones took advantage of a turnover and beat Samsonov cleanly with 62 seconds remaining to restore Chicago’s lead.
It was a backbreaking turn of events after a completely one-sided period, but Chicago’s third shot of the frame found the back of the net, and it proved to to be the game-winner.
Bertuzzi scored his second of the game 4:08 into the third. It was another power-play goal, and he was left alone in front for the second time, making Vegas pay for it with the insurance marker.
Unlike Friday in Carolina, the Vegas penalty kill did not take care of business in Chicago.
“Two power-play goals where we know exactly what they’re looking for, and we’re not able to stop it,” Cassidy said.
The Golden Knights had a few power plays of their own in the third but were unable to trim the deficit. For the second game in a row, the Golden Knights took a penalty with the goalie pulled, putting the final stamp on a 5-3 loss to the worst team in hockey.
Another two points fell by the wayside as the Golden Knights completed their road trip with three straight losses.
Once again, the Golden Knights showed resilience and had stretches of complete dominance. But once again, the Golden Knights took their foot off the gas, and it cost them.
“You’re never going to be better than the other team for 60 straight minutes, so you better be able to put out some fires,” Cassidy said.
During the current skid, the Golden Knights have been unable to do that consistently enough to walk away with points. Tonight was no exception.
“I think we kind of gift-wrapped a few of their chances, a few of their goals,” Mark Stone said. “Back-to-back nights with the game kind of where we want it, we just make mistakes. But the good thing is, they’re nothing that they’re doing, it’s preventable mistakes for us.”
One bright spot during the current slump has been the play of Hertl, Olofsson and Pavel Dorofeyev. Though the lines were scrambled much more than usual in Chicago, that trio led 8-5 in Corsi and scored two goals in just 5:49, with Hertl netting the Golden Knights’ other goal on the power play.
Hertl, who seems to have finally settled in with his new linemates, has nine points during his current five-game point streak, and Dorofeyev has been red-hot. Though the top line needs to start producing again, it’s important progress to have Hertl, Olofsson and Dorofeyev being steady contributors.
At the end of the day, however, the Golden Knights need to find ways to win. It’s something the team has done well in the past, and it’s something Vegas needs to figure out in order to get things back on track.
According to Cassidy, the Golden Knights need to “start hating losing” in order to do so.
“I drag this team in the fight every fricken night when we’re not going well, so that’s my job,” he said. “Now at some point, that gets old for the players, it gets old for the coach. So it becomes incumbent on them to make sure they bring the attitude that we’re gonna get this going in the right direction, because we’re not that far off. We’re not getting blown out every night. Monday will be the next chance.”
That next opportunity will be a home tilt against the St. Louis Blues on Monday afternoon (3 p.m. PT).
“A little adversity is good this time of year, but it’s only good if you work your way out of it,” Stone said. “So you gotta go home and get back to the drawing board and be ready to battle and find a way to win a game.”
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
