Back to the same old song and dance for the Vegas Golden Knights. They spent 60 minutes, dominating in all three zones, yet came up short in Tampa Bay. When the final horn sounded, the Lightning were victorious, by a score of 4-2, improving to 16-2-1 in their last 19 games.
Despite facing off against the red-hot Lightning, the Golden Knights (27-21-7) came out fast and established themselves as the aggressor right out of the gate. They out chanced the Bolts at 5-on-5, by an 11-6 margin, but still went into the locker room down a goal.
Brayden Point opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot, that found a home thanks to strong net presence from captain Steven Stamkos. Point was left alone in a dangerous area, corraled the pass from Nikita Kucherov, and didn't miss.
Approximately five minutes later, William Carrier tied the game with an eerily similar goal to Point's. Carrier came into the zone as F3 (the third forward), took a pass from Brayden McNabb, and beat Vasilevskiy with the high-slot shot. Cody Eakin picked up an assist on the play, taking one more step toward returning to his 2018-19 form.
Tyler Johnson made the second deflection of an Ondrej Palat shot, to regain the Tampa lead, just before heading to the locker room. The 2-1 score held up through a scoreless second period, which saw the Golden Knights crash and burn on three straight power plays. The absence of Cody Glass and William Karlsson showed on the anemic power play.
Paul Stastny opened the scoring in the third period, redirecting McNabb's point shot to tie the game. Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, a Stamkos redirection and Alex Killorn empty netter sealed the deal. They got four goals in the game, while recording just one high danger chance. Yes, only one high danger chance.
The Golden Knights played a great game, but just lacked finish. We have seen this more than once. Sometimes it's shot selection, sometimes it's a lack of net presence, and others (like tonight) it is simply a lack of finish and missed opportunities.
"Lot of scoring chances, just couldn't finish them".
-William Carrier
Following the game, coach Pete DeBoer was generally happy with the team's effort, and rightfully so. He acknowledged a refusal to panic because of the loss, with the solid effort shown against a good team. He and the Golden Knights now want to keep building on these types of games as they march toward the playoffs. At the end of the day, the team has immense talent and one of the easiest routes to the playoffs.
With 27 games remaining, the points will start to matter. The Pacific Division is very tightly grouped and the Golden Knights have one of the best rosters in it. With more time with DeBoer, the team will get more and more comfortable and the results will come. Their long road trip is winding down and after a stop in Sunrise, FL on Thursday, will return home for a much-needed home game.
"It's frustrating, we played very good, didn't give them much."
-Marc-Andre Fleury
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