The Vegas Golden Knights had a chance to do something that’s never been done in franchise history: overcome a four-goal deficit to win. While Vegas came close, the Golden Knights were unable to complete an impressive rally in the third period, ultimately coming up short in a 4-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Led by a strong effort by goaltender Lukas Dostal, the Ducks took a commanding 4-0 lead seven minutes into the second period and seemed poised to run away with the game. However, Vegas stormed back in the third and came close to forcing bonus hockey before running out of time.
It was the team’s first loss of the season after defeating Chicago 5-2 in the season opener. Vegas is now 1-1-0 on the year.
The game marked the first meeting between the Golden Knights and Ducks since Vegas eliminated Anaheim in six games in the second round of last year’s postseason.
Both teams were evenly matched in the first, but in the waning seconds of the opening frame, Dostal made a great save at one end, and Leo Carlsson’s stretch pass set up Beckett Sennecke for a breakaway goal at the other. This gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead with less than eight seconds on the clock.
Anaheim scored quickly in the second period to double its lead when Alex Killorn deflected a point shot past Carter Hart.
Just 55 seconds later, another shot from the blue line pinballed off multiple players and found its way past Hart to extend the Ducks’ lead to 3-0.
Less than five minutes after that, the Ducks still had all the momentum and came flying into Vegas’ end once again. Hart made an outstanding save on a rebound, but the Vegas defense was unable to tie up Carlsson, who stretched the road team’s lead to four.
The Golden Knights started to turn things around in the second half of the middle frame but trailed by four entering the third. Making matters worse, Rasmus Andersson took a tripping penalty at 20:00, giving the Ducks a power play to start the third.
The Vegas penalty kill set the tone to start the final frame, and Vegas came alive, cutting the deficit in half six minutes in.
First, Shea Theodore scored to end Dostal’s shutout bid at 4:38. Brett Howden took a shift with Mark Stone and Jack Eichel, and strong work along the boards set up Theodore’s laser from the right circle.
Surprisingly, Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville challenged the play for offside even though his team held a three-goal edge. Anaheim ended up losing the challenge, which sent Vegas to the power play. This was a turning point in the game.
Though the top unit struggled to get the puck in the zone, Mitch Marner eventually got it to Tomas Hertl in front. Hertl slammed it home for Vegas’ second goal in 1:29, making it a two-goal game at 6:07.
Vegas continued to push for the duration of the period.
With the goalie pulled, the Golden Knights made it a one-goal game with 2:50 left in the third on Braeden Bowman’s first of the season. Victor Olofsson’s backhand gave Dostal trouble, and Bowman took care of the rebound.
The Golden Knights later had the puck in the crease with Dostal down, but they were unable to net the equalizer, falling short after an impressive effort.
Clearly, the Golden Knights made life way too difficult after giving up four unanswered goals. Though Vegas turned things around in the second half of the second period, the rally didn’t begin until the third.
“I didn’t mind our first period; I thought our start was good” head coach Ryan Craig said. “As the second period started, [Anaheim] put more pucks to the net, got some bounces, won some races. You never want to get down in that situation, but I liked our response, but it took us a while to respond.”
Being unable to reset momentum and falling into multi-goal deficits was a lesson Vegas learned all too often last year.
“Obviously we don’t want to fall into what was kind of the story last year,” Howden said. “We’d have a good first and kind of let off in the second and then make a good push in the third and make a comeback out of it. It was a great effort in the third to stick with it, but I think [we need to] find that consistency in our game.”
Stone echoed those sentiments but said that one- or two-goal deficits are manageable, whereas overcoming a four-goal deficit is a tough mountain to climb.
“You’re never gonna see this team quit,” the captain said. “I think that’s why we’ve had some playoff success and regular-season success as a team. We don’t quit, we continue to push. But when you get down in a hole 4-0, you’re not gonna come back very often.”
Craig used a familiar phrase from last season about the need to “stop the bleeding.” It’s something his predecessor, Bruce Cassidy, preached consistently. However, Craig stressed that this is a new season, and he doesn’t believe tonight was simply an example of repeating last year’s bad habits.
“We have to stop the bleeding when we don’t want one [goal] to turn into two to turn into three to turn into four like it did tonight,” he said. “It’s a new year. I love our response and how we continued to push, the energy there. Getting down is not ideal there. … I didn’t mind our start. We gave up the late goal, probably deflates us a little, but it’s the start of the second that did us in. I think with our group, it’s a new year, we’ll address certain situations. … We can help our execution, but I don’t think it had anything to do with reverting back to the stats that showed last year.”
The Golden Knights got some much-needed assistance from Quenneville’s challenge, and they took full advantage.
“The challenge obviously helped us,” Craig said. “We got the two goals there at that point. I really thought that was something we needed. We needed the kill, and the early goal gave us some life. We were able to get going after that. We’re one play at the end in the blue paint from tying it up.”
But at the end of the day, the Golden Knights can’t expect to win with 40 minutes of effort. Not in today’s NHL.
“To get down by four, it’s hard to come back,” Craig said. “I’m proud of our guys for the effort and the urgency [in the third]. I thought we raised our assertiveness in the third period, and it led to a better overall showing for us.”
Hart had a tough stretch in the second period, surrendering three goals in 5:30 of action. To be fair, the third goal was particularly unlucky, and the Golden Knights weren’t tight enough defensively to help him out on the fourth.
Even so, Hart finished the game with 16 saves on 20 shots for an .800 save percentage, which is not going to get it done.
“I thought Carter battled today,” Craig said. “I thought he had some tough luck on the double deflection off the shin pads. … He was ready to play, he gave us a chance, and then in the third, … he was there when he needed to be.”
When asked about the goalie rotation this season, Craig didn’t offer any specifics.
“The split will work itself out as we go through here,” he said. “We’re playing every second day now for the next 16 days, so both goalies will play.”
In the end, Craig’s decision not to pull Hart to start the third paid off, as Hart stopped all six shots he faced. That being said, Craig was aggressive with the rest of the lineup, rolling three lines and putting those lines in the blender in the second period.
Some of those changes yielded results, such as putting Howden on the top line. Trevor Connelly did not play and was not on the bench late in the third period, though Craig said there is no injury concern and that it was a coach’s decision to restrict his ice time.
Though Vegas didn’t come away with any points, the fact that the Golden Knights were able to make it such a close game is a positive sign, particularly this early in the season.
It should be a confidence-booster that Vegas took over the game in the third period, stacking shifts and building momentum. The home team led 7-1 in high-danger chances in the final 20 minutes (compared to trailing 6-3 in the second), according to Natural Stat Trick.
A few other positive takeaways from the game include the fact that Eichel had his second consecutive multi-point effort with assists on the first two goals. He now has five points through two games.
Also, Bowman was noticeable throughout, and he went to the net to score a key goal for Vegas late in the third. Depth scoring will be crucial for Vegas, and it was the second game in which the Golden Knights got offense from up and down the lineup. Through two games, Vegas has eight different goal-scorers, including Olofsson, Connelly, Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Stone, Theodore, Hertl and Bowman.
On the flip side, the Andersson and Parker Wotherspoon pairing had another rough outing defensively. They are both minus-four through two games, which is the lowest on the team. Andersson managed to lead the club with four individual scoring chances, but the pair’s play at the other end left much to be desired. It will be interesting to see if Craig changes things up and reunites Andersson and Hanifin moving forward.
The Golden Knights are next in action Sunday against the Canucks as part of a two-game road trip that also features a stop in Seattle on Tuesday.
They will look to deliver a more consistent effort for 60 minutes.
“First and foremost, it’s recognizing it,” Howden said about the dip in play in the second. “We have a mature group in here. It’s frustrating because we know that shouldn’t be happening. We’re gonna learn from it here. We’re gonna move on. It’s a good thing it’s only Game 2. We liked the end of our game, the push, and obviously we want to build off that going on this little road trip.”
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick
Featured photo via the Golden Knights