The Vegas Golden Knights came up short in another close game, losing 2-1 in the waning seconds of overtime against the Seattle Kraken Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
Jared McCann scored the game-winning goal for Seattle with less than four seconds on the clock.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored Vegas’ lone tally of the night for his NHL-leading fifth goal of the season.
The Golden Knights are now 1-0-2 through three games this season.
Neither team was able to break through in the opening 20 minutes, though Seattle led 26-16 in shot attempts and 11-4 in scoring chances, six of which were of the high-danger variety. Even so, the Golden Knights’ puck movement was cleaner than in previous games, and Adin Hill was sharp. He made a series of saves late in the frame to keep things scoreless after one.
The Golden Knights’ power play generated several promising chances in the second period but was unable to connect.
However, for the third time in three games, the Golden Knights surrendered the first goal. It came on a Seattle power play just under eight minutes into the second period.
It was a highlight-reel play from start to finish, as Jordan Eberle sent a behind-the-back, between-the-ledgs pass to the wide-open Matty Beniers in front. Beniers used a forehand-backhand deke to get one past Hill and put Seattle ahead.
Bruce Cassidy began to shuffle the lines to try to get something going, but Vegas trailed 1-0 after two.
Just over four minutes into the third period, however, Vegas netted the equalizer. Dorofeyev scored his fourth power-play goal of the season on Vegas’ third opportunity of the game.
Once again, Mark Stone recorded the primary assist on the play. But unlike his previous goals on the man-advantage, Dorofeyev scored this one from the left dot, sending a one-timed blast to the far corner to reset the score at 1-1.
The Golden Knights largely shut down the Kraken in the third period, limiting the home team to just two shots on goal.
However, it was a completely different story in the extra frame. In fact, it was a fairly dominant five-minute stretch for Seattle, with the Kraken holding a 7-3 edge in shots and controlling possession almost the entire time.
The Golden Knights were 3.8 seconds away from reaching the shootout, but McCann had other plans, scoring off a rebound at 4:56 to lift Seattle to the 2-1 victory.
Hill finished the game with 20 saves on 22 shots for a .909 save percentage. It was by far Vegas’ best performance in net so far this season.
Through three games, the Golden Knights have three players with more than two points: Jack Eichel leads the team with two goals and seven points, Dorofeyev has five goals, and Stone has five assists. All three have four points on the man-advantage, meaning the three leading scorers on the team have a total of five points at even strength.
The goalies have a combined save percentage of .860 with 61 saves on 71 shots.
The penalty kill, which has given up three goals on eight chances, is operating at 62.5 percent, which ranks 29th overall.
The power play is 4-for-13 (30.8 percent), good for seventh in the NHL, but has also given up a shorthanded goal.
There are a few ways of looking at the Golden Knights’ start to the season.
On the one hand, the Golden Knights have been in three close games, all of which have required overtime, and have four points despite winning just once. The power play has looked very dangerous, Dorofeyev is on fire and hasn’t missed a beat, and Vegas has been able to overcome deficits in all three contests.
On the other hand, the Golden Knights have been forced to chase after giving up the first goal in every game, and Vegas blew a late two-goal lead in the home opener. If not for an epic collapse by Alex Nedeljkovic in San Jose, Vegas would have suffered its first regulation loss in the regular season at SAP Center in franchise history. The Golden Knights have yet to deliver a 60-minute effort, and Cassidy had to throw the lines in a blender in order to try to generate offense against a Kraken team that finished 20 points out of a playoff spot last season.
All in all, the Golden Knights should probably focus on takeaways from both lines of thought.
Vegas has shown resilience in being able to come back, and the Golden Knights haven’t let games or situations unravel. The power play has been effective, and there’s plenty of skill up front. Dorofeyev continues to light the lamp at will, and, regardless of circumstances, the Golden Knights have collected four out of a possible six points.
There are issues that need to be addressed in all aspects of the game, including generating chances, getting traffic to the net, playing with urgency, tightening things up defensively and getting more consistency out of the goaltenders. But it’s very early, and the Golden Knights are still getting things in order.
Not having Noah Hanifin hurts, as the rearguard remains day-to-day, and the chemistry isn’t quite right yet.
However, some of the newly scrambled lines put together decent numbers in Seattle.
For example, reuniting Stone with Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev led to an 83.33 percent Corsi share and 100 percent expected goal share in 5:31. Also, Mitch Marner played 6:10 with Tomas Hertl and Dorofeyev, and the trio held a 10-1 edge in shot attempts while generating 82.43 percent of the expected goal share.
Perhaps those tweaks will lead to better results moving forward, including Tuesday night in Calgary when Vegas wraps up this three-game road trip.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.