Connect with us

Vegas Golden Knights

Bleeding Continues: Golden Knights Go 0-5 on Road Trip, Lose to Jets

Published

2 years ago

on

The Vegas Golden Knights (32-26-4, 68 points) have lost every game of their current five-game road trip with their most recent loss coming Tuesday to the Winnipeg Jets (28-23-10, 66 points). They have lost ten of their last fourteen games and are in danger of missing the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I don’t know what to tell you if you are a Golden Knights fan. It was the same song and dance for this team. They still cannot score, the goaltending was awful, players are frustrated, and they simply lack the NHL talent to compete with ten players missing from the lineup.

Stay tuned for the postgame report. Or skip it if it is too painful to read, I don’t blame you on this one.

Both Adam Brooks and Laurent Brossoit faced off against their former teams Tuesday night. Brooks was claimed off waivers a month ago by the Toronto Maple Leafs only to then be waived and claimed again three days later and end up with the Jets. Brossoit played three seasons with the Jets and in 54 games, serving mostly as a reliable backup behind Connor Hellebuyck. He did not finish the game.

In terms of lineup changes, there was only one for the Golden Knights. Brayden Pachal made his NHL debut with Daniil Miromanov on the mend after taking a puck to the face against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He is the eighth player to make his NHL debut this season with the Golden Knights.

Things started off strong for the VGK as they prevented the Jets from landing a shot in the opening 12 minutes of play. The Golden Knights pressured offensively with Jack Eichel, Evgenii Dadonov, and even Jonas Rondbjerg getting solid chances.

But the pace of the game would change as Keegan Kolesar and Logan Stanley dropped the gloves. In a pretty even tilt, it was Stanley that got a spark out of his team.

The Jets went on to outshoot the Golden Knights in the first period 9-1 after the fight and scored two goals. The first of which came from captain Blake Wheeler who simply gained the zone and sniped a shot on Brossoit.

The second was from Kyle Connor who had a fortuitous bounce where the puck came right to him and he scored. Connor now has 10 career goals in 10 career games against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The only lead the VGK had in this road trip was against the Blue Jackets.

A big goal from Nicolas Roy got things to a one-goal game midway through the second period. After a faceoff win, Zach Whitecloud stepped up on the play to hold the puck in and got it to Roy. He then sniped a shot on Hellebuyck from the right circle for the Golden Knight’s first goal of the game.

But this one-goal deficit for the VGK had shortlived as Nikolaj Ehlers scored just a few shifts later. After Pachal and Dylan Coghlan failed to get the puck out of their own zone, Ehlers scored.

Stanley then followed it up with a goal of his own, a bar-down snipe, to complete the Gordie Howe hat-trick. He is no longer the NHL player with the most shots on goal without a goal as he scored on his 66th shot of the season.

Logan Thompson came into the game in relief of Brossoit after the Stanley goal. But even he could not stop the bleeding as Mark Scheifele went on to score to make it 4-1 Jets.

It seemed like the roof had caved in after Scheifele’s goal for the Golden Knights. But the team came out in the third period and slowly chipped away at the Jets lead. Alex Pietrangelo scored on a powerplay chance with a long wrist shot that found its’s way through.

Then the fourth line for the Golden Knights stepped up with Jonas Rondbjerg and Jake Leschyshyn finding Michael Amadio who scored.

Slowly but surely a comeback started to mount for the Golden Knights but momentum died with Jonathan Marchessault taking an offensive zone penalty. Marchessault aggressively swung his stick at Ehlers and broke his stick before he could play the puck.

He received a two-minute penalty and a game misconduct for his antics and left the game in frustration. The Jets scored on the ensuing penalty with Josh Morrissey scoring right off the faceoff.

The Golden Knights had another chance on the powerplay but Adam Lowry scored shorthanded to put up the extra point for the Jets. The Golden Knight lost the game 7-3.

It has been one ugly road trip for the Vegas Golden Knights. They have allowed 17 goals in their last three games and 5+ goals in their last three as well.

The Golden Knights finish off their road trip with a nasty 0-5 record. They have just 20 games remaining on the season and two before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline. They will return home Thursday to play the Florida Panthers at 7:30 pm.

That game will take place on St. Patrick’s Day, so maybe the luck of the Irish can get the Golden Knights back into things here as they sink in the standings.

Vegas Hockey Now’s Player of the Game: Keegan Kolesar

Related Topics: