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Golden Knights blow late lead, lose 3-2 in OT to Devils despite Thompson’s stellar play

Posted on by Jillian Wagner

The Vegas Golden Knights gave up a goal with just 70 seconds remaining in regulation before falling in extra time in a 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at Prudential Center.

Logan Thompson was outstanding, stopping 33 of 36 shots for a .917 save percentage. Two of the three goals he gave up deflected off Golden Knights skaters, and the third was a power-play rocket from a wide-open Dougie Hamilton in the slot.

It was Vegas’ best all-around game in quite some time, but the Golden Knights were unable to come away with two points. They have lost five of their last six games (1-4-1).

For the 11th time in the last 13 games, Vegas gave up the first goal. It was a tough break for Thompson, as Ondrej Palat’s shot hit the stick of Kaedan Korczak before fluttering over Thompson’s glove.

New Jersey took over later in the frame, but Thompson made several clutch saves to keep it a one-goal game, including a particularly outstanding pad save on a deflection in front.

The Golden Knights rewarded him with some goal support, scoring two goals in the span of 2:51 to take the lead late in the second period.

Ben Hutton evened things up at 1-1 exactly 12 minutes into the frame off an absolute laser that beat Devils netminder Vitek Vanecek top-shelf.

William Karlsson then scored his fourth goal in the last seven games at 14:51, poking home the loose puck after Jonathan Marchessault made the initial move to get it past Vanecek.

Thompson continued to come up with huge saves, and the Golden Knights held a 2-1 lead late in the third period when Vanecek was pulled with 1:45 remaining in regulation.

But once again, the Devils got a fortuitous bounce, as Hamilton’s first goal of the night hit Brayden McNabb’s skate and deflected over Thompson to force overtime.

The Golden Knights had gone 0-for-3 on the power play in the second and third periods but had yet to take a penalty. However, New Jersey got its first man-advantage with 2:19 remaining in the extra frame when Hutton took an ill-advised penalty behind the net.

A stellar play by Jack Hughes set up Hamilton alone in the high slot, and he launched the game-winner at 3:54 of extra time.

It was the Golden Knights’ best game in weeks, but Vegas delivered everything but the finish. The Golden Knights had strong puck support, won more races and were effective along the boards. The goaltending was superb, and Vegas was much better defensively, especially following Sunday’s loss to Arizona.

The same cannot be said of the power play, which continues to struggle with Mark Stone out of the lineup.

Though New Jersey was the better possession team, Vegas took advantage of its chances and played a solid road game, containing New Jersey’s high-powered offense for most of the night. Two bad bounces were the difference in the game, which was one of Thompson’s best of the year.

Brett Howden returned to the lineup and recorded two hits and two blocks in 11:29 while also dropping the gloves in defense of Keegan Kolesar, who was pushed into the boards by Nathan Bastian in the second period..

The Golden Knights will look ahead to their back-to-back against the New York clubs this weekend, beginning Friday night against the Rangers.

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