Golden Knights Postgame: Lehner Talks New Stick, Dadonov Solid

The Vegas Golden Knights winning streak of three games on home ice came to an end Tuesday night as they were beaten 4-2 by the Carolina Hurricanes. Antti Raanta played lights out for the Hurricanes and the Golden Knights puck luck was simply not there.

The Golden Knights drop to 9-7 on the season which is now almost a quarter of a way through. They currently sit fifth in the Pacific Division standings as the Anaheim Ducks won yet another game Tuesday night.

The Hurricanes showed all night why they are one of the top teams in the National Hockey League. Their ability to pass pucks creatively and as a unit is unmatched in the NHL. They also have everyone on board with their team systems from Seth Jarvis to Jordan Martinook to Sebastian Aho.

Hurricanes Puck Bounces

Not once by twice did Teuvo Teravainen intentionally fire a shot aiming for a rebound which led to a Hurricanes goal tonight. There are few ways to beat Robin Lehner, and the Hurricanes found one of them.

“If you look at Carolina over the past four years they like to shoot the puck, they have a lot of good shooters and a lot of good net-front guys. Twas the frustrating part because it felt like I handled most of the rebounds really well but the last one went off my stick,” said Lehner who stopped 38 of 42 Tuesday night.

Lehner stated that he may look into changing sticks after tonight’s game. On the Hurricanes go-ahead goal, the puck hit Lehner’s stick and he intended for it to go into the corner. Instead, it was placed right in front of Seth Jarvis who scored.

“I got a look at my stick too. Maybe I need to change sticks. I want to because I want them (pucks) to fly away a little bit more instead of dying on me. So I have to look into that,” said Lehner, who currently uses a Warrior goalie stick.

Dadonov’s Offensive Potential

Evgenii Dadonov had what I would call a hat-trick of “oooooh’s” tonight with the chances he had. In every shot opportunity, the winger had the crowd of T-Mobile arena uttered out the first letter of my name. 

Dadonov played on the first line tonight alongside Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson. They were easily the best line offensively for the Golden Knights Tuesday night. The forecheck seemed to be the key for the line as scoring chances resulted from it.

Combined Stone and Dadonov had seven shots on goal Tuesday night. Antti Raanta made big saves on every one of the chances from the top line.

With Dadonov carrying a cap-hit of $5 million and the Golden Knights projected to be way over the NHL Salary Cap when they become fully healthy, Dadonov is a player that has been linked in some NHL trade rumors. But if he continues showing his offensive poise it will be hard for the Golden Knights to let him go.

Golden Knights Injury Update

However, Dadonov took a high stick late in the third period and the play was missed by the referees. Dadonov missed the remainder of the game for the Golden Knights. Head Coach Peter DeBoer had no injury updates for Dadonov and Shea Theodore, who also left the game, and stated that he will know more tomorrow.

“You have to look for a silver lining and maybe the silver lining is that now we will get a little lock on the injury front down the stretch and at the important time of the year as I can hope for not sure I’ve been through a stretch like this before,” said DeBoer.

The Golden Knights are back in action Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings at T-Mobile Arena for a 7:00 start time.