The Vegas Golden Knights continued their homestand with a 4-2 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Knights were without Jonathan Marchessault, their leading goal scorer, due to him entering Covid protocol on Tuesday morning.
Robin Lehner was excellent on the night and was a large part of the reason that the Golden Knights stayed in the game as long as they did.
The Hurricanes got out to a roaring start in the first period, but Lehner was able to hold them off in the early stages.
The Knights pushed but couldn’t generate anything overly dangerous.
Lehner made a plethora of saves throughout the period, but the dam finally broke after a great bit of passing from the Canes led to a goal from Tony DeAngelo.
The Hurricanes added another goal on the power play late in the period from Sebastian Aho. Teuvo Teravainen wristed a shot from the point, Lehner made a pad save and the rebound fell right to Aho in the slot.
Vegas got off the ice trailing by two, but it could have been much more if not for Lehner’s effort.
The Golden Knights got on the board early in the second period with a dazzling play from Brett Howden. Howden raced after a lob off the glass from Ben Hutton and beat Brendan Smith in a foot race. Howden made a slick move and beat Antti Ranta stick-side.
The Brett Man 🍞 pic.twitter.com/w3bMSeo3BR
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 17, 2021
Shea Theodore quickly tied the game at two. Mark Stone fed him the pick from behind the net and Ranta denied Theodore twice before the puck found its way in the back of the net.
three for a dollar 💵 pic.twitter.com/N7B2Drwon1
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 17, 2021
The Golden Knights went to a power play around the midpoint of the period but were unable to capitalize despite multiple solid scoring chances.
The Canes retook the lead early in the third period with a goal from Seth Jarvis. Lehner lost the puck and it fell to Jarvis at the faceoff dot.
Vegas excellently killed a penalty in the middle stages of the period.
Carolina added to the lead with just over six minutes remaining in the period as Vincent Trocheck got on the board.
Shea Theodore lost an edge in the corner and fell hard into the boards. He exited the game and would not return.
Vegas pulled Lehner for the extra attacker with 2:30 left in regulation. Aho caught Evgeni Dadonov with a high stick that drew blood but there was no penalty called due to it happening on a follow through.
Vegas was unable to score with the extra attacker and fell 4-2. The Knights will host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.