The Vegas Golden Knights (0-0-1) and Los Angeles Kings (1-1-0) put on an absolute show in the Golden Knights’ season opener Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena. Though the Golden Knights were unable to close out the win, they came away with a point in a 6-5 shootout loss to their Pacific Division rival.
The newly-signed Jack Eichel was spectacular, recording one goal and three assists, and Mitch Marner collected his first two points in his Golden Knights debut. Pavel Dorofeyev picked up right where he left off last season with a second-period hat trick for the first hat trick of the 2025-26 NHL season.
But the back-and-forth roller coaster ended in disappointment for the Golden Knights. Vegas had things under control late in the third period, but a costly shorthanded goal by Trevor Moore changed the game, and the Kings rode the momentum to the shootout victory.
First period
It was all Kings out of the gate, which wasn’t all that surprising considering the Kings played Tuesday against Colorado. It took nearly seven minutes for the Golden Knights to register their first shot on goal. It was a high-danger chance for Tomas Hertl in front, but Anton Forsberg made a key save to keep Vegas off the board.
The Golden Knights found themselves in a 1-0 hole less than five minutes into the season after Andrei Kuzmenko scored on the power play. Noah Hanifin went down to block the shot but was unable to get a piece of it, and Kuzmenko beat Adin Hill through the screen.
An ugly mistake by Vegas led to Los Angeles’ second goal at 11:57 of the first period. In his first game in a Golden Knights sweater, defenseman Jeremy Lauzon turned the puck over at center ice, and Quinton Byfield blew past Lauzon and beat Hill on a sleek top-shelf backhand.
The Kings took the 2-0 lead into intermission after a choppy start for Vegas.
Second period
But Vegas potted its first goal of the season just over two minutes into the middle frame. Fresh off a 35-goal campaign, Dorofeyev found twine on what seemed like an innocuous shot, but his release fooled Forsberg to cut the deficit to one.
The Kings restored the two-goal lead later in the frame with a goal in transition. It was originally credited to Joel Armia, but Jeff Malott got a piece of it for his first career NHL goal.
However, they don’t call him “Scorofeyev” for nothing.
The Golden Knights got a three-minute major after Alex Turcotte drilled Lauzon from behind. Kaedan Korczak took a penalty after standing up for his teammate, setting up two minutes of 4-on-4 before the extended major.
The Golden Knights capitalized on the opportunity.
A beautiful passing play by Eichel and Mark Stone set up Dorofeyev for the backdoor tap-in with 2:28 remaining in the period.
Eichel then drew a penalty to give Vegas an extended 5-on-3 with just under two minutes left in the second.
Dorofeyev scored almost the same goal to complete the hat trick and tie the game at 3-3 in the final minute of the period.
Third period
Vegas scored the next two goals in the third to take a 5-3 lead.
Eichel netted his first of the season and first after signing an eight-year extension, giving Vegas its first lead of the season. Significantly, it involved the three words Vegas fans hope to hear for many years to come: Marner to Eichel.
But it was magic by the entire top line, as Ivan Barbashev started the play with a slick move across the blue line. Marner then had the nifty set-up through the legs of the defender, and Eichel drilled the one-timer to make it 4-3.
The line struck once more with another tic-tac-toe play, this one finished by Barashev after a give-and-go with Eichel.
Eichel had four points, and Marner and Barbashev each had two. The top line had completely taken over the game.
But a shorthanded goal by Moore turned the tide for Los Angeles.
With 8:21 remaining, the Kings pulled within one after Vegas turned the puck over just inside the blue line to set up Moore on the breakaway.
Less than three minutes later, it was a 5-5 game.
Brandt Clarke reset the score with another transition goal, driving to the net and tapping home a centering feed from Byfield.
Extra time
After a scoreless five-minute overtime, the two clubs headed for a shootout.
Eichel was unable to beat Forsberg, and the Kings scored on both of their first two attempts, setting up a must-score situation for Dorofeyev.
After losing the puck on his way to the net, Dorofeyev managed to recover before roofing a backhand over Forsberg to keep Vegas alive. Kevin Fiala then missed the net on the Kings’ third attempt, but Forsberg turned aside Marner’s bid to pull off the come-from-behind win and hand Vegas its first loss of the 2025-26 campaign.
This game had a little bit of everything: lead changes, superstar talent, game-shifting special teams, a hat trick and so much more.
Perhaps most importantly, Vegas found its offense.
The Golden Knights didn’t generate much in the preseason, but scoring wasn’t an issue in the season opener. The Golden Knights got key goals from key players, which is exactly what they needed.
Additionally, the top line was electric. It took a little while, but the chemistry was undeniable, and the fact that Eichel and Barbashev both scored is an encouraging sign with the pass-first Marner making his Vegas debut. The trio combined for eight points on the night and managed an expected goal share of 76.36 percent, according to Natural Stat Trick.
It was Eichel’s second consecutive four-point game in a season opener, and he had a hand in four straight goals as Vegas flipped the script after a slow start.
Plus, the power play was cooking. Bruce Cassidy went with a five-forward setup, and the Golden Knights delivered.
But there were some execution issues, with Vegas committing several costly turnovers that ended up in the back of the net. That’s understandable in the first game of the season, but not taking care of the puck cost Vegas at least two goals.
Perhaps most concerning, however, was the fact that Hill gave up five goals on 26 shots for an .806 save percentage. With Alex Pietrangelo out of commission and several new players on the blue line, the Golden Knights are going to need him to be much, much better. Not all of them were his fault, as the Kings had multiple breakaways and made several nice plays, but the Golden Knights could have used one or two more saves.
All in all, it was an exciting start to the season, but this was a game Vegas should have won. The offense was impressive, and the power play proved it can be lethal, but the defense and goaltending need to be tighter moving forward.
The Golden Knights will look to pick up their first win of Year 9 tomorrow night in San Jose.