Golden Knights Postgame: Pietrangelo Sets PB, Gibson Steals Game, Cassidy Sends Message

The Vegas Golden Knights were handed their second-straight road loss Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks in the shootout despite over 50 shots from the team, five powerplay chances, and a career night from defensemen Alex Pietrangelo. The VGK lost in the shootout 3-2.

Golden Knights Takeaways

Gibson Gobbles Pucks

The Golden Knights put up over 50 shots against John Gibson, but the Pittsburgh native stopped nearly all of them and essentially stole the game for the Ducks. The Ducks held on and used their star players in Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry, to win the game in the shootout.

"55 shots or whatever, we have got to find a way to capitalize. Our powerplay had the chance to win the game for us, and we didn't tonight, so it is something we will look at… those games are frustrating when you feel like you did a lot, but you just couldn't find a way to score," said Pietrangelo

Against a basement-dwelling opponent, captain Mark Stone was not happy that the VGK only picked up one point.

"I'm definitely not happy with just one point. You can't leave those games up to chance against a team like that. You look at their roster, and you look at the way they are winning games; they win their games in the shootout. 55 shots, we've got to find a way to score more than two goals… Against a team like that, you are not happy walking away with just one point; you've gotta beat them," said Stone.

A Horse Named Petro

Let's play a game. Think of your favorite TV show, and ballpark how long each episode is. 30-35 minutes sound about right? Well, that's roughly the amount of time Alex Pietrangelo played in the Golden Knight's 3-2 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday. 34:16, to be exact.

"A couple of us D are playing big minutes right now. We are obviously down a few guys, guys who play big minutes," said Pietrangelo.

Given that there were ten penalties in the game and that Pietrangelo plays both first-unit powerplay and penalty kill for the VGK, it's easy to see why he reached this total.

This breaks Pietrangelo's career-high ice time for a single game which he set last year at 32:55. Pietrangelo has played in six games since he left the Golden Knights to be with his family. Since his return, he has six points in as many games. He saw his point streak come to an end against the Ducks.

Cassidy Sends Messages

Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy did everything in his power to try and find a spark for the VGK against the Ducks. After Adam Henrique and the Ducks scored two goals, the decision was made to pull goaltender Adin Hill.

"Something looked off, and we made a call. When you play back-to-back, you are always going to play two goalies, typically. (The backup) should be the most prepared guy on the team because he did not play the night before. That's not what I saw, so we went in a different direction," said Cassidy.

It also did not take Cassidy long to shuffle up his line combinations, playing younger guys like Pavel Dorofeyev and Jonas Rondbjerg in the top six.

"If you want to play up in the lineup every night, it's hard. You're playing against good teams; you've got to bring energy and win puck battles for 15-18 minutes a night… We put some younger legs up there to give them a chance to compliment some of our top guys," said Cassidy.

The Golden Knights will be off tomorrow before they practice on Friday morning in anticipation of a New Year's Eve game against the Nashville Predators.