The Vegas Golden Knights (31-24-14) were unable to dig themselves out of a familiar multi-goal hole when they lost 4-0 to the Utah Mammoth (36-27-6) Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Utah scored three goals in the first 8:12 of the contest and added an empty-net goal late in the third, while Karel Vejmelka stopped all 28 shots Vegas fired his way.
This marked the second game in a row in which Vegas was held off the board. The last time that happened was the final two games against Edmonton is last year’s postseason.
However, this game also was the third time this month that the Golden Knights failed to light the lamp. Vegas lost 5-0 to Pittsburgh on March 1 and then 2-0 to Buffalo and 4-0 to Utah this week.
The fact that the Golden Knights have just 13 games remaining in the regular season, however, is alarming, particularly since they continue to repeat the same destructive mistakes.
Chasing games is difficult in the NHL; doing so night after night is unsustainable, and tonight’s game was another example of why.
Despite the fact that Vegas got off to a strong start early in the first period, it was the Mammoth who opened the scoring. Less than three minutes into the game, captain Clayton Keller scored on the backdoor off a fantastic feed by John Marino. Nate Schmid recorded the secondary helper on the play.
After Brayden McNabb failed to clear the zone, a missed shot made its way right to Keller. His gorgeous finish at the side of the net gave the Mammoth a two-goal edge at 6:05 of the opening frame.
Things went from bad to worse for Vegas when Jack McBain scored in transition just 2:07 later to make it a 3-0 game.
The Mammoth scored three goals on three shots, which was enough to end Adin Hill’s night in net. Akira Schmid turned aside all 14 shots he faced the rest of the way, with Utah’s fourth goal coming with the net empty at 19:12 of the third.
After the game, Vegas bench boss Bruce Cassidy explained that the decision to make the change in net was based on several factors, including sending a message to the team. He also referenced the fact that Hill has played a lot lately, and he pointed to Utah scoring on its first three shots of the game.
“I made a decision in the moment,” Cassidy said about pulling Hill. “Akira didn’t let in a goal the rest of the way, so I was happy with how he did.”
That doesn’t mean things didn’t get interesting, but Schmid did what he needed to do.
His teammates, on the other hand, did not.
But even though Hill finished the game with a save percentage of zero, the team had a hand in the early deficit.
Keller’s first was set up by an excellent pass from Marino, and McNabb whiffed on a clearing attempt before Keller made his way to the net unimpeded on the second. The third came after an ill-advised play by Kaedan Korczak and, once again, involved blown weak-side coverage.
“A couple breakdowns,” Noah Hanifin said. “Even the first goal, just a faceoff play, lost coverage. … You give up three in a row, and it just kind of deflates you, puts you on your heels.”
Cassidy had a similar assessment.
“First one off the faceoff, we lost a guy going to the net,” he said. “The third one was a simple 3-on-3 where the D didn’t close quick enough, our forward’s not in the seam lane.”
Weak-side coverage, which was a significant part of Vegas’ preparation for this matchup, was something Cassidy emphasized after the game.
“Half the pre-scout is about East-West plays, weak-side coverage, weak-side coverage, weak-side coverage,” he said. “We got beat twice on f***ing weak-side coverage. You want to bang your head against the wall as a coach, but obviously they didn’t get the message, so I have to do a better job there. I mean, it was pretty clear on how we feel [the Mammoth] can generate offense, and they did. Good for them. They finished, they executed.”
Execution was something Vegas lacked on both sides of the puck. With regards to the first period, Cassidy said Vegas “did not execute at a high enough standard by any means.”
But regardless of the team’s defensive performance, the Golden Knights failed to get one puck behind Vejmelka.
“I’m concerned that we’re turning down opportunities to shoot,” Cassidy said. “In the third period, we were a little more direct; I think we hit two posts. So there was generation of offense eventually.”
But Cassidy referenced several examples of the Golden Knights over-passing in the second period.
“There comes a time you gotta shoot the puck in those situations. They’re not grade-A’s, but they’re grade-B-pluses. You gotta put it on the net. You gotta trust your shot. These guys are all goal-scorers who can score in this league. We’ve gotten away from a little bit of that.”
Beyond that, the Golden Knights were credited with 28 missed shots.
“That’s a problem,” Cassidy said. “We’re off-net way too much.”
Cassidy said he’s disappointed that the Golden Knights haven’t been able to simplify their game while the offense is struggling.
“We’re a team that can make plays, but right now we’re not,” he said, attributing part of that to Vegas’ schedule and lack of practice time. “There has to be a certain level of comprehension from the players, that ‘I’m not on the ice every day, I’m resting, so we’re gonna dummy it down a little and just put pucks to the net and get there when there’s an opportunity to shoot, make the plays when you can, etc.’ That’s a little disappointing to me that a group like ours is not catching on with that when we’re not scoring that much.”
One positive aspect of Vegas’ play of late has been the penalty kill, which went 2-for-2 tonight.
But the thing the Golden Knights have going for them is the fact that the Pacific Division continues to be rather dreadful. Regardless of the number of losses the Golden Knights have suffered and the extra points they’ve squandered, Vegas has managed to maintain a playoff slot. They’re currently in third place, one point behind Edmonton with a game in hand and two points back from the Ducks, who have a game in hand. Vegas got some assistance tonight with multiple Pacific Division teams losing, including Edmonton, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Jose.
Even so, the Golden Knights cannot continue to fall behind early and force themselves to chase games, particularly since every team is desperate for points down the stretch.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” McNabb said. “Unprepared to play, myself included. … You give up three goals in the first 10 [minutes], it’s hard to come back in this league. We’re fighting for a playoff spot, playoff position. We just gotta be better and ready to start.”
Coming ready to play at the start of games is something the Golden Knights have been talking about and preaching for quite some time, though. Falling into a multi-goal hole is nothing new for this team, though back-to-back shutout losses and three in one month is a jarring development.
At this time of year, the Golden Knights should be fine-tuning their game, firing on all cylinders and competing against other motivated teams. Instead, the Golden Knights are spiraling. The offense may be generating looks, but it’s all about capitalizing and finishing, which Vegas has not been able to do consistently. In fact, Vegas has won just seven of its last 22 games. Seven.
“We gotta find ways to get the puck in the net,” Hanifin said. “It’s tough, it’s just not going our way now, but we gotta keep plugging away. There’s really no time to dwell on this. We’re on the road again, and we don’t have much time left. We gotta start winning games here.”
The schedule does not get any easier for Vegas, as the Golden Knights will play three games in four nights on their upcoming road trip, which starts Saturday morning in Nashville against Jonathan Marchessault, Nicolas Hague and the Predators.
With Jeremy Lauzon, Colton Sissons and Cole Smith all returning to Smashville, perhaps the Golden Knights will have a little extra motivation. They certainly could use the spark.
Photo via the Golden Knights