Lifeless Golden Knights Go Gently Into Night in Loss to Red Wings

The Vegas Golden Knights (39-20-8) entered Sunday’s game desperate to cleanse their palettes of a poor game just 24 hours before. Instead, they failed to muster any fight and fell 3-0 to the Detroit Red Wings (32-29-6). The Golden Knights limp their way out of their Eastern Conference road trip, having gone 1-1-2, including overtime losses to two of the worst teams in the league.

Sunday’s tilt with the Red Wings was the Golden Knights’ sixth game in nine days, and it was evident. They were a step behind from the opening puck drop to the final horn. It was like they were skating through quicksand. The Red Wings took advantage of their fatigue; if not for Ilya Samsonov, they would have scored far more than three goals.

The Red Wings outshot the Golden Knights 27-17 and out-chanced them 29-21. The Golden Knights managed just five high-danger chances through 60 minutes; the Red Wings finished the game with 18.

Somehow, the analytics only scratched the surface of how the Golden Knights looked on Sunday.

They played almost the whole game at 5-on-5, save for two minutes at 4-on-4 and four minutes of strong penalty killing. Lack of offense at 5-on-5 is starting to become a real problem for the Golden Knights. Petr Mrázek was good– he made 18 stops and saved 1.6 goals above expected– but the Golden Knights didn’t make his life difficult.

In contrast, the Red Wings had complete access to Ilya Samsonov for 60 minutes. He had to deal with players in his crease screening him unimpeded and even running him over– eventually, that led to Samsonov taking a swipe at Michael Rasmussen with his blocker. Although he only faced 27 shots, most of them came from high-danger areas, the Red Wings scored thrice, but Samsonov saved .86 goals above expected.

The game was scoreless through 20 minutes, but the Red Wings had seven high-danger chances to the Golden Knights’ one. 

At 7:58 in the second period, the Red Wings scored what would stand as the game-winner. Jonatan Berggren drove into the zone, pulled up to avoid Brayden McNabb’s check, and shrugged off Brett Howden’s stick check. Berggren sent the puck to JT Compher, who dumped it deeper into the zone for Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko passed to Albert Johansson, who was completely unmarked in the right circle. Johansson faked a shot; Ilya Samsonov bit, and Johansson tucked it around Samsonov’s outstretched pad and into the open net. 

After Johansson’s goal, the Golden Knights responded with a brief but inspiring push. They generated a few chances, but Mrázek was up to the task.

Lucas Raymond extended the Red Wings’ lead less than five minutes into the third period with a truly herculean effort. Jack Eichel got kicked out of the defensive zone draw, and Ivan Barbashev stepped in to take it; Dylan Larkin won it back cleanly. Mark Stone got to the puck first, but his pass went right into Raymond’s skate. Elmer Söderblom corralled the puck and passed to Raymond. Raymond avoided Stone’s stick-check and cut right through Stone and Zach Whitecloud. He briefly lost the puck, kicked it up to his stick, powered to the slot, and fired a wrister past Ilya Samsonov glove side.

The Golden Knights just couldn’t do anything right; they were disconnected and sluggish. They’ve been this way for most– if not all– of the Eastern Conference road trip, but today, there was one exception: they looked unenthused. Down by two, the Golden Knights finally pushed back in the third period, but it was too little too late, and they couldn’t finish the few chances they generated.

The Red Wings put the game out of reach at 11:14 in the third period. Patrick Kane broke out of the zone, skated the puck through the neutral zone, and fed a pass to Erik Gustafsson. Gustafsson cut through Brayden McNabb and worked the puck along the boards to Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat spun away from Pavel Dorofeyev’s check and worked it back to Kane. Kane passed to Gustafsson in the slot; Gustafsson faked a shot and put the puck right on Marco Kasper’s stick, and Kasper redirected it home.

And that was it. The Golden Knights didn’t pull Samsonov for the extra attacker but did manage one final weak offensive push.

Nothing came of it.

Golden Knights Game Notes

The Golden Knights are 1-4-0 in their last five visits to Little Caesars Arena. There’s something about this building that has their number. Maybe it’s due to unfortunate scheduling, maybe it’s a curse, maybe they really don’t like Bob Seger– whatever it is, they should probably figure it out.

On the Red Wings’ first goal, Brett Howden momentarily took himself out of the play. He thought the puck went offsides– to his credit, in real-time, I did as well– and raised his arm in hopes of a whistle. None came, but it seemed like the Golden Knights stopped playing in anticipation of a stoppage. You can’t do that. Play to the whistle.

The Golden Knights have looked positively lethargic for a few games, especially the two this weekend, which is slightly understandable. Back-to-back early games aren’t easy on the players. Some fans might like them— I’d imagine most live on the East Coast— but players like their routines. Most prefer to get the blood flowing at morning skate and take a pregame nap. So, while the recent play is alarming, the past two games aren’t the sample size from which to draw conclusions. 

No Golden Knights Report Card today. I don’t think anyone would want to read it.

Ilya Samsonov was good on Sunday. But no one came to his aid, even when Michael Rasmussen crashed the net and bowled him over. He had to take matters into his own hands and swung at Rasmussen with the blocker. It’s a bad look when someone runs the goalie over, and his team does nothing about it. 

I liked what I saw from the penalty kill. The Red Wings have the second-best power play in the league, and the Golden Knights made them look defective. The Red Wings got two power play opportunities, but the Golden Knights held them to just one shot on goal. 

The Golden Knights are in a funk. This is the time of year when they should be playing their best hockey; instead, they seem content to limp into the postseason.