Golden Knights Offense Struggles In Loss To Panthers

The Vegas Golden Knights (38-20-6, 82 points) began their first game of a five-game road trip with a loss against the Florida Panthers (32-27-6, 70 points) No lineup changes were made by the team outside of Pavel Dorofeyev joining the team for the road trip and Adin Hill starting.

Here's how it went down.

FIRST PERIOD

• Alex Pietrangelo pinched and got a puck to Ivan Barbashev in the slot, who was stopped by Sergei Bobrovsky.
• Nick Cousins picked off a pass and got it to Eric Staal, who then got it to Antony Duclair in the slot for a grade-A chance that Adin Hill stopped.
• The Golden Knights ran into a problem of turning the puck over too much in the first period.
• 1-0 FLA GOAL- Ryan Lomberg scored from the point after another Golden Knights turnover, this time by Shea Theodore.
• FLA PP- Brett Howden was called for hooking, which sent the Panthers' powerplay to the ice.
• VGK PP- The Golden Knights killed and got a powerplay of their own as Marc Staal was called for tripping Paul Cotter.
• The Panthers were the better team in the first period, as they trapped the VGK in their own zone at various times.
• With the Golden Knight's fourth line and third D-pairing on the ice, the Panthers hemmed in the VGK for a lengthy period of time.
• Sam Reinhart fired a shot, but it was blocked by Alex Pietrangelo. The blocked puck went right back to Reinhart for another shot, this time on goal.
• Radko Gudas made two big plays at the end of the period. One was to break up a VGK 2-on-1, and the other was a shot that rang off the post.

SECOND PERIOD

• 2-0 FLA GOAL- The Golden Knights continued to struggle to get the puck out of their own zone, and Alexander Barkov scored for Florida.
• VGK PP- Nick Cousins was called for tripping Ivan Barbashev, giving the VGK their second powerplay.
• The best chance so far in the game came for the VGK on the PP as Michael Amadio set up Chandler Stephenson in the slot with quick passing.
• The Panthers got another play with a player behind the net finding a teammate in the slot. In this case, it was Eetu Luostarinen to Anthony Duclair.
• VGK PP- After they failed to score on their first two powerplays, the Panthers gifted the VGK another with a too-many-men penalty.
• 2-1 VGK PPG- On the ensuing powerplay, the Golden Knights broke free, with Shea Theodore scoring on a one-timer from the point.

• 4 on 4- Brett Howden and Radko Gudas got tied up, which resulted in both players taking penalties after a scrum ensued.

THIRD PERIOD

• Aaron Ekblad picked off a pass by Paul Cotter and then set up Eric Staal for a quality chance.
• Alex Pietrangelo joined the Golden Knight's rush and received a pass in the slot from Chandler Stephenson, but Josh Mahura made a great defensive play to stop him.
• VGK PP- Brandon Montour got caught tripping Keegan Kolesar.
• FLA PP- Alec Martinez was called for hooking Sam Bennett while backchecking.
• With the game on the line, head coach Bruce Cassidy shuffled up his lines and shortened the bench. 
• Paul Cotter, Brett Howden, and Phil Kessel saw limited shifts.
• Adin Hill was pulled with just over two minutes left in the game.
• The Golden Knights used their timeout with 1:08 left.
• Jonathan Marchessault found Jack Eichel by the side of the net, but he fanned on the attempt and did not score.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS NOTES

• For whatever reason, the Golden Knights had a tough time defending shots from the slot by the Panthers.
• Adin Hill was once again relied on to be solid. He finished the night with 33 saves on 35 shots. No help.
• With another goal, Shea Theodore now has goals in back-to-back games and has 12 points in his last 12 games.
• The Golden Knights scored on the powerplay Tuesday, which means the Panthers have allowed a powerplay goal in nine-straight games.
• Powerplays have been a rarity for the VGK all season, but with the Panthers being the most penalized team in the league, the VGK got four powerplays Tuesday night.
• At age 38, Eric Staal continues to be a solid player, now with the Panthers. He had five shots against the VGK.
• Both the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken have later games tonight. Both could affect the VGK in the standings in the long run.

VHN's Player of the Game: Adin Hill

Up Next: The Golden Knights will continue their road trip Thursday as they play the Tampa Bay Lightning at 4:00 p.m.