The Vegas Golden Knights (10-5-8) found themselves trailing early and were unable to complete the comeback, losing 4-3 in a shootout to the visiting Ottawa Senators (12-7-4) Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Mark Stone returned to the lineup after missing 16 games with a wrist injury. He scored the equalizer in the third period and finished the game with three shots and two hits in 19:58.
But it wasn’t enough.
After a bumpy first period, the Golden Knights shut down the Senators for the final 40 minutes, scoring once in the second and once in the third to force extra time. However, Vegas suffered its second shootout loss of the season after going 0-for-3.
It marked the club’s seventh consecutive loss decided after regulation.
The Senators scored on their first shot of the game, as Shane Pinto’s sharp-angle shot made its way through Akira Schmid to give the road team a 1-0 lead. The soft goal came just 51 seconds into the contest.
Vegas had a chance to take back the momentum with an early power play, but the Golden Knights managed just two shots and one scoring chance. Pavel Dorofeyev also hit iron early in the frame.
The Senators, on the other hand, were fully able to take advantage of their chances in the first period. That included their first power play, as Jake Sanderson beat Schmid with a blast from the point, making it a 2-0 game at 13:04. The Golden Knights were unable to clear the zone thanks to a strong play by Tim Stutzle, and the Sens made Vegas pay. It appeared as though Schmid was screened and never saw the shot, which went bar and in.
The Golden Knights cut the deficit in half less than four minutes later on a fantastic play in transition. Shea Theodore’s stretch pass found Mitch Marner at the blue line; Marner delayed and dropped the puck off to Brett Howden, who flew into the zone and beat Linus Ullmark on the backhand at 16:52.
But the Senators were able to restore their two-goal lead before the horn sounded, as Drake Batherson scored with just 17 seconds remaining in the first to make it 3-1. Stutzle made an excellent play to get around the Vegas defenders before feeding Batherson for the one-timer.
For the second time, Vegas pulled within one just 2:09 into the second period on Jack Eichel’s 11th of the year. It came just after a huge effort by Stone and the Vegas penalty kill and was a full-line goal for the top line, as Braeden Bowman extended his point streak to five games. The rookie has seven points in eight games this year, while Eichel now has three goals and seven points in his last four games.
Bowman started the play with a great chance on Ullmark, forcing the Senators netminder to come out of the crease to make the stop. Ivan Barbashev then found Eichel behind the play in front of a wide-open net.
The penalty kill came up huge for Vegas with two strong kills in the second period, allowing Vegas to enter the third down by just one.
The Golden Knights were able to erase the deficit with a power-play strike 6:40 into the final frame. It was none other than the captain in his first game back. It was a flukey goal, as Stone’s attempted pass hit a Senators skate and bounced into the net. However, the power play was rewarded after moving the puck well.
The Golden Knights outshot the Senators 11-5 in the third period but were unable to score the go-ahead goal.
Vegas had some chances in overtime, but this one required a shootout. It was close, and Eichel’s attempt had to be reviewed, but Dorofeyev, Eichel and Marner were unable to beat Ullmark. Pinto scored the lone goal in the shootout to lift the Senators to the 4-3 win.
The Golden Knights suffered yet another loss in extra time, giving them eight points in overtime and shootout losses this season.
But the loss can be traced back to the first period, which was a rough one for Vegas. It started immediately on the first shot of the game, which somehow found twine.
“That has no right going in the net,” Bruce Cassidy said.
Unfortunately for Schmid and the Golden Knights, that early goal forced Vegas to play catch-up all night. Though the Golden Knights did eventually pull even at 3-3 in the first half of the third period, they never led in this game.
The Stone, Marner and Howden line was Vegas’ best in the game, leading 19-4 in Corsi and 10-3 in shots with a 78.93 percent expected goal share in 10:28, according to Natural Stat Trick. Vegas’ top two lines both scored and were on the ice for a goal against.
The fact that Stone scored on the power play is encouraging for the Golden Knights. It wasn’t exactly a slam-dunk goal, as Stone flubbed the pass attempt to his favorite power-play option in Pavel Dorofeyev. However, it was a critical goal that helped Vegas come away with a point. It’s clear that Stone is the best man for the job on that top unit, and the power play seems poised to return to form with him back in the mix.
In the end, Vegas outshot Ottawa 35-23 and led 36-19 in scoring chances, including an 18-6 edge in high-danger chances. Ullmark turned aside 32 of 35 shots for a .914 save percentage, while Schmid finished the night with 20 saves and an .870 save percentage. It was far from his best performance.
Vegas currently sits in second place in the Pacific Division standings with 28 points at the Thanksgiving cutoff point.
The Golden Knights will be back in action when this four-game homestand continues with a back-to-back against Montreal on Friday and San Jose on Saturday.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.