The Vegas Golden Knights (7-3-4) overcome a two-goal deficit in the third period but were unable to complete the comeback in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks (10-3-1) Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba scored the game-winner with 32 seconds left in overtime to hand the Golden Knights their second straight loss. The Golden Knights are now 1-2-1 on their current six-game homestand and have dropped three of their last four games.
Notably, William Karlsson sustained an injury in the second period and did not return to the game. Head coach Bruce Cassidy labeled Karlsson as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and said the team would have an update early next week.
First period
For the third game in a row, the Golden Knights scored first, as Brett Howden gave the home team a 1-0 lead 5:47 into the opening frame off a fantastic setup by Karlsson from behind the net.
Just over 10 minutes later, however, Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano reset the score with a deflection goal.
Second period
The second period was the Leo Carlsson show, as the sophomore Swede lit the lamp twice to give Anaheim a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
The first goal was the result of a dominant individual effort and came just past the midway mark of the period.
Carlsson struck again with 3:10 remaining after Vegas failed to clear the puck. It looked like an especially soft goal, but Zach Whitecloud’s stick redirected the puck to fool Akira Schmid.
The second period was a miserable 20 minutes of hockey for the Golden Knights, though Vegas drew a late penalty to set up an opportunity early in the third.
Third period
Vegas squandered that opportunity but later cashed in on a Carlsson high-sticking penalty. Unsurprisingly, it was Pavel Dorofeyev who came through on the man-advantage, skating into the slot and ripping one past Petr Mrazek to bring Vegas within one.
The Golden Knights continued to pour on the pressure, and eventually Kaedan Korczak netted the equalizer with 5:07 remaining. Mitch Marner made a great play to keep the puck in the zone, and Ivan Barbashev set up Korczak in the slot.
It was Korczak’s second goal of the season, as he continues to lead Vegas blueliners in goals. In fact, no other Vegas rearguard has a goal through 14 games this season.
Overtime
The Golden Knights’ strong play carried over into the extra frame, but multiple grade-A scoring chances fell by the wayside. Eventually, Trouba skated around Jack Eichel and beat Schmid five-hole to lift Anaheim to victory.
Schmid finished the game with 25 saves on 29 shots for an .862 save percentage. That’s the third time in his last four starts that Schmid has recorded a save percentage below .900, though he is 6-1-1 on the season.
The Golden Knights were outstanding in the third period. The forecheck was relentless, and Anaheim never had a chance to regain control. The two-goal period helped the Golden Knights earn an important point against the division-leading Ducks.
However, for the second straight game, the second period cost Vegas dearly. Another abysmal effort in the middle frame saw the Ducks outscore the Golden Knights 2-0 and outshoot them 12-8. At 5-on-5, the Ducks led 23-15 in Corsi, 11-6 in shots, 13-8 in scoring chances and 4-0 in high-danger chances, with a 76.3 percent expected goal share.
Over the last two games, the Golden Knights have been outscored 4-0 and outshot 27-12 in the second period. That’s not going to cut it against any team, let alone two with the offensive firepower that the Lightning and Ducks have.
But unlike the Tampa Bay game, the Golden Knights responded with a productive third period. Vegas outshot Anaheim 21-6 and led 35-13 in Corsi, 22-7 in scoring chances and 2.22-0.87 in expected goals (71.79 percent). Most importantly, the Golden Knights led 2-0 in goals.
The struggling power play — which is now 3-for-26 with Mark Stone out of the lineup — came up with a massive goal, and the Golden Knights were able to even things up to force overtime and come away with a point. Vegas then had several prime scoring opportunities in the extra frame; ideally, one of those is converted. But at the end of the day, the Golden Knights played well enough to win, they just couldn’t execute the final play.
The power play, mediocre goaltending and a lack of depth scoring are killing the Golden Knights right now, and the growing injury list isn’t helping matters.
Vegas will look to bounce back and snap this two-game losing skid when they take on the Florida Panthers Monday night. The Golden Knights will wrap up the six-game homestand Thursday against the Islanders.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.