Golden Knights Game 31 Plus/Minus: Another Blown Lead, Eichel Effective

Here is a new feature to Vegas Hockey Now. After every game, we will take a look at what went well and what went bad. We will start with the pluses and minuses of the game against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night in Vegas.

– Another Blown Third Period Lead at Home

This becoming a concern for the Golden Knights. This was a homestand in which the Golden Knights should be able to bank points with minimal stress. The first three games of the homestand have been anything but stress-free. The Golden Knights have given up three consecutive third-period leads and have been outscored 8-5 in the third period by the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, and Buffalo Sabres.

The Golden Knights take on the last-place team in the Atlantic Division on Sunday, can they clean up the third period against the Ottawa Senators?

+- Ivan Barbashev Remains Hot and Has a Costly Turnover

Barbashev makes the plus and minus end of today’s column. After getting just six points in the first 23 games of the season, Barbashev has eight points in the last eight games including a goal Friday night against the Sabres. Barbashev is clicking with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.

Unfortunately, Barbashev had a costly turnover that led to an Alex Tuch goal that put Friday’s game out of reach.

+ The Fourth Line

William Carrier, Nicolas Roy, and Keegan Kolesar were effective Friday night. Carrier drove hard to the net multiple times. The fourth line had nice cycles and sustained pressure throughout the game.

+ Jack Eichel

Eichel scored goal No. 13 Friday night which was his 14th point in his last nine games. You know Eichel wanted to make a difference in this game. Eichel had eight shots on goal and a hard hit on Owen Power that led to an altercation with Peyton Krebs. Krebs claimed that Eichel “didn’t want it” when the two locked up.

+ The Crowd Helping Game Day Bruce Cusick With Eichel’s Goal Announcement

This was probably the coolest moment of the game. The entire crowd of 18,008, less a few Sabres fans, joined Bruce Cusick in shouting Jack Eichel’s name after his third-period goal.

– Golden Knights Got Away From Their Game

Zach Whitecloud, Mark Stone, and coach Bruce Cassidy referenced that the Golden Knights played right into the strength of the Sabres. The Sabres are a good team off the rush that you do not want to trade chances with. The Golden Knights started chasing the game in the third period which led to the game getting out of hand.