Coming off a disappointing overtime loss against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, the last thing the Vegas Golden Knights wanted to do going into the holiday break was lose to a division rival.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what ended up happening.
Following Ryan Reaves’ game-tying power-play goal 6:55 into the third period, neither Vegas or Los Angeles could break the deadlock until 3-on-3 overtime. Despite Vegas playing quite well to begin the five-minute overtime period, though, it was the Kings who wound up getting the extra point when Tyler Toffoli beat Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for the game-winner on a breakaway.
The Golden Knights were badly outshot by Los Angeles — particularly in the middle period, where the Kings scored two of their three goals in regulation. A little over 24 hours after facing 47 shots against the Canadiens, Fleury took another 32 shots from the Kings. And despite the quick turnaround, Fleury did manage to make some outstanding saves, including a huge save on Jeff Carter while down a man.
Vegas picked up a loser point in consecutive games this weekend, and considering that the Knights didn’t exactly play to their usual potential, getting those of points certainly could be viewed as a small victory going into the holiday.
Knights head coach Gerard Gallant, though, knows that this play cannot continue if his team plans on making another run at the postseason.
“The way we played the last six-plus periods, we got two points out of that, and we were lucky to get that. Because we didn’t play well enough to deserve that,” said Gallant. “Our goalie was our best player both games, and that’s why we got the two points. Am I happy to get the two points? Yes, I am. But we’ve got to play a lot better than that.”