The Vegas Golden Knights’ struggles on home ice continued Friday afternoon in a 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Vegas, now 10-6-8 on the year, has lost four consecutive games (0-2-2) is now 5-4-4 on home ice.
Mark Stone scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights, who outshot the Canadiens 31-19.
The Golden Knights were the better team in the first period but found themselves trailing after 20 minutes for the third game in a row.
Vegas got off to a great start, leading Montreal 9-2 in shots early in the first period. Vegas moved the puck extremely well on an early power play, keeping the puck in the zone for almost the entirety of the two minutes. However, Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault was better, shutting down all four of Vegas’ shots.
Akira Schmid made a few big saves of his own, but eventually Montreal broke through, as Zack Bolduc scored at 14:30 on a delayed penalty to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
The Canadiens doubled their lead just over two minutes into the middle frame when Cole Caufield beat Schmid from a bad angle. It was the second time in the game Caufield tried to score from a bad angle (he hit the post the first time), likely taking a page out of Shane Pinto’s playbook from the other night. However, this was a perfectly placed shot by a true sniper, and it put Vegas in a two-goal hole.
The Canadiens threatened to take a 3-0 lead when Nick Suzuki and Noah Hanifin got tangled up at the blue line, leading to a 2-on-0 break for Suzuki and Caufield. Vegas was fortunate, however, as Caufield hit the crossbar.
After 40 minutes, the Golden Knights led 22-11 in shots but trailed 2-0 where it mattered.
But another early goal in the third period gave Montreal a commanding 3-0 lead, as Jake Evans scored on a breakaway off a turnover by Mitch Marner.
The Golden Knights eventually pulled within two on a gorgeous individual play by Mark Stone, who scored for the second straight game after missing 16 contests with a wrist injury.
The goal, which came at 15:16 of the third, gave Vegas some life, but the home team was unable to cut the deficit further.
Vegas pulled Schmid with just over three minutes remaining, but the Canadiens put the game away with an empty-net goal at 18:03, restoring their three-goal lead for the 4-1 final.
The Golden Knights managed just nine shots in a critical third period.
Despite outplaying Montreal for stretches of the game, the Golden Knights paid a price for multiple defensive breakdowns, several of which ended up in the back of the net.
Vegas also failed to capitalize on its chances, the most promising of which came in the opening 20 minutes. But a key early penalty kill by Montembeault and the Habs proved to be significant.
“We had some good looks and some chances [on the power play],” Jack Eichel said. “It was positive. I thought it built momentum for our group, but we didn’t get another one the rest of the game. So unfortunately we weren’t able to score, and sometimes just the timeliness of goals is important. It probably would have jumpstarted our team had we gotten one there early, but … you just have to continue to play. We weren’t able to do enough in the other 58 minutes of the game.”
But chasing games has been a common trend as of late.
“We didn’t compete hard enough offensively to finish plays,” Bruce Cassidy said. “And we didn’t score. We had some looks, the power play was sharp. Then they get one, we just lost a coverage back-door, kind of a nothing play, and then we’re chasing it again in the second period. … We’re chasing a lot of games. We gotta find a way to get ahead, stay even. … There’s too much chasing games. It takes too much energy. … That script has to flip.”
The Golden Knights outshot the Canadiens in all three periods but struggled to put the puck in the net.
“I thought there were some pockets of good hockey, we’re just kind of fighting it right now to find the back of the net,” Eichel said. “It just seems like we’re maybe forcing it a little, and we make a mistake and it ends up in our net.”
Eichel, who had a game-high seven shots on goal, stressed the importance of a shoot-first mentality.
“We have an unselfish group in here, and that’s not a bad thing. I find myself sometimes guilty of it, but you’re trying to maybe over-pass the puck into the net. Sometimes getting pucks there and bodies there is a good recipe.”
The result of that hesitation is another losing skid for the Golden Knights, who have lost four straight, going 0-2-2.
But perhaps the more glaring statistic is that Vegas has lost seven of its last nine home games, going 2-4-3 in that stretch. Regardless of injuries and other factors, that’s never a recipe for success.
“I don’t think anyone wants to panic,” Eichel said. “But urgency is a big part of it, and knowing where you are in the game. Listen, when it’s not going, everyone’s urgency needs to rise, and that’s no secret.”
Cassidy said that urgency needs to come earlier in the game.
“We need more urgency when it’s 1-0 or 0-0 to get the first goal,” Cassidy said. “That’s where our urgency level would need to be better.”
But at 1-0, the Golden Knights proceeded to give up an early goal in both the second and third periods, making life more and more difficult. Vegas didn’t break through until the final five minutes of regulation.
Eichel said the Golden Knights have to clean up their game, but he said the quick turnaround provides an opportunity for Vegas to be better.
“I thought there were some things to like about the game and what we did, but sometimes when it’s not going, you gotta just play a little more direct game and get more pucks to the net,” he said.
The Golden Knights will look to do so when they take on the Sharks tomorrow at 7 p.m. PT.