Freefall Continues: Vegas Golden Knights Fall in Lackluster Effort vs. Florida Panthers

The Vegas Golden Knights are in a freefall, there is no other way to explain it. Injuries and poor play have this team in a tough spot. The Golden Knights are not expected to get any help on the injury front anytime soon.

The Golden Knights started on time and scored the game’s first goal. Pavel Dorofeyev found Mark Stone on the left circle. Stone’s shot bounced right to Dorofeyev who buried it. The Golden Knights had a 12-2 advantage in shots and seemed like they were on the cusp of scoring more goals.

William Carrier took a penalty which led to a Panthers powerplay goal. Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the left side ricocheted off the back boards directly to Sam Bennett who one-timed the puck.

The Panthers had momentum for the period’s last five minutes and did a good job of slowing the game down.

The second period was rough and could go down as a turning point in the season. The Golden Knights started the period with a two-man advantage that stretched for approximately two minutes and failed to generate any high-danger chances. Coach Bruce Cassidy called a timeout during the second, two-man advantage, and drew up a play on the clipboard. Cassidy was visibly upset as the powerplay failed.

The Panthers found goals from Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe.

To make matters worse, the Panthers lost forwards Evan Rodrigues and Aleksander Barkov. The Golden Knights failed to capitalize on a short Panthers’ bench.

Sam Reinhart scored the Panthers’ third powerplay goal of the game early in the period to give the Panthers a three-goal lead.

The Golden Knights fell 4-1 and never were in the game from the second period on.

Mark Stone had a positive spin on the first period. “We dominated the first 20 minutes.” Stone also had a message for the team. “20 guys come to the rink every day. Everybody has to play better. The forwards have to play better, the defense has to play better, and the goalie has to play better.

Brayden McNabb’s press conference painted a picture of the locker room. He stated, “We are not going to turn on each other” multiple times during his presser.

“At the end of the day, there’s going to be lulls in the season where your intensity doesn’t match the other teams’. But this has been way too long.” Coach Cassidy on the loss.

Scoring Summary

First Period
Dorofeyev from Stone 3:59
Bennett (PPG) from Ekman-Larsson and Ekblad 14:15

Second Period:
Tkachuk (PPG) from Montour and Reinhart, 6:15
Verhaeghe from Forsling and Mountour, 18:38

Third Period:
Reinhart (PPG) from Tkachuk and Verhaeghe 5:23