Over their three-game winning streak, the Vegas Golden Knights (34-18-6) played structured, and they were disciplined. On Monday, they were neither. The Golden Knights blew a third-period lead, and the Los Angeles Kings (31-17-7) scored four unanswered goals in the third to win 5-2.
In the first period, the Golden Knights were a step too slow. They didn’t record their second shot on goal until 15:49 in the first period– 13:54 after their first shot on goal.
Of course, between those two shots on goal, the Kings had two power plays and scored on one. The Golden Knights also had a power play but failed to record a shot or generate much momentum.
Trevor Moore won a puck battle against Zach Whitecloud on the power play. Moore fed the puck to Quinton Byfield. Byfield passed to Jordan Spence at the blue line; Spence walked the line and passed back to Byfield. Byfield shot through Whitecloud, and Moore redirected it past Ilya Samsonov.
The Golden Knights woke up with about five minutes to go in the first period. Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper made this ten-bell save on Nic Roy to keep the score at 1-0.
The second period was exactly what you’d expect a game between the Golden Knights and the Kings to look like. A lot was happening, but very little appeared on the scoresheet. Both teams checked hard. When the Golden Knights made a mistake, they were aggressive on the backcheck and strong on their sticks defensively to recover from their mistakes. So, too, were the Kings.
And then the dam broke.
Kaedan Korczak started the rush, passed to Brayden McNabb, and got off the ice for a change. McNabb banked the puck around Alex Laferriere to Tomáš Hertl. Hertl held the puck, waited, and drew three Kings—Laferriere, Jordan Spence, and Quinton Byfield— towards him. As they converged, Hertl threaded a pass to an unmarked McNabb, who corralled the puck and beat Kuemper far-side.
After McNabb’s equalizer, more of the same– heavy forechecking and aggressive backchecking– resulting in just three shots apiece over six minutes. The Golden Knights stuck to their game; when they do that, the results are usually positive.
Noah Hanifin held the zone and passed to Zach Whitecloud. Whitecloud fired a shot wide, and Mark Stone beat Vladislav Gavrikov to the puck and touched it to Brett Howden. Howden passed to Hanifin, who walked the blue line and fired a shot on net. Stone once again got positioning on Gavrikov and redirected Hanifin’s shot home.
The Golden Knights entered the third period with a lead but couldn’t hold it for long. Forty-two seconds into the period, Darcy Kuemper played the puck and rimmed it around the boards. Alex Pietrangelo pinched but couldn’t coral the bouncing puck, which sprung Warren Foegele and Trevor Moore on a 2-on-1. Moore entered the zone and looked to pass. Nic Hague went down, and Moore fired a wrister bar-down and in.
It was as if Moore’s equalizer took all the air out of the Golden Knights’ sails. Or, maybe, it simply gave the Kings life. From that point on, the Golden Knights struggled to possess the puck. Nothing went right. They lost puck battles, stick battles, and spent a great deal of time hemmed into their own zone.
Pestered by Philip Danault, Alex Pietrangelo couldn’t clear the zone. Brett Howden won a wall battle against Warren Foegele, but his pass was in Brandon Saad’s skates. Quinton Byfield came up with the puck, shielded it from Saad, and backhanded a pass through four Golden Knights to Foegele. Samsonov made a play for the puck and missed. Foegele cut around Pietrangelo and deposited the puck into the empty net.
Foegele’s goal was the nail in the coffin; although it was a one-goal game, that wasn’t how the Golden Knights played. Gone was the calm, composed, even-keeled game the Golden Knights played in the second period; instead, they were desperate, loose, and, at times, sloppy.
Once again hemmed into their zone, the Golden Knights made too many costly errors. Noah Hanifin’s pass was out of the reach of Raphaël Lavoie. Quinton Byfield picked it off and one-touched it to Adrian Kempe. Kempe went skate-to-stick through Lavoie and Hanifin, turned, and banked a pass back to Joel Edmundson at the blue line. Edmundson fired a one-timer knuckle puck that beat Samsonov off the post and in.
Edmundson’s insurance goal further unraveled the Golden Knights. The Golden Knights were on their heels, and the Kings didn’t let up; instead, they added another dagger.
Drew Doughty worked the puck behind the net to Quinton Byfield. Byfield took the puck to the half wall, drew Alex Pietrangelo to him, and sent the puck back behind the net for Adrian Kempe. Kempe waited, drew the defenders closer, and threaded a pass to an unmarked Kevin Fiala. Fiala danced through Pietrangelo and Pavel Dorofeyev and went forehand-backhand to beat Samsonov top-shelf.
Cue Hollywood Nights.
“When you play losing hockey, you usually lose,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “I never saw it coming.”
Game Notes
Kaedan Korczak played well. He was generally unnoticeable, and that’s what you want in a third-pairing defenseman. He had an assist and wasn’t on the ice for any of the five goals against. That being said, the Golden Knights desperately need a top-four replacement for Theodore.
Shea Theodore’s absence was felt on Monday in the worst way. Noah Hanifin played well, but he can’t generate offense the way Theodore can. The Golden Knights are 0/5 on the power play since returning from break, and that’s no coincidence.
Alex Pietrangelo had a game to forget. He was on ice for four of the five goals against, and all came at 5-on-5. Without Shea Theodore, the Golden Knights need Pietrangelo and Hanifin to be the best versions of themselves every night. Otherwise, winning becomes significantly more difficult.
Ilya Samsonov allowed five goals on 19 shots. But look at the goals he gave up. Trevor Moore scored on the power play with a redirection so surgical, I almost missed it. The second was soft, but it was still a 2-on-1. He lost his balance on the third goal, but the defense couldn’t have been much worse. The fourth goal was bad; Kevin Fiala walked right around Alex Pietrangelo to score the fifth. Would a save have been nice? Sure. But Samsonov was entirely left out to dry.
The four goals the Golden Knights allowed in the third were the most they’ve allowed in a single period this season. That’s not generally something you want to see at the end of February.
The Kings would be an unfavorable matchup for the Golden Knights in the playoffs. I’m not going to go so far as to say that the Kings are a better team, but they’re a very similar team. They play sound defense, wait until their opponent makes a mistake, and capitalize on it. That’s what they did on Monday. It’ll likely be a long series if these teams meet in the playoffs.
