The Montreal Canadiens scored three straight goals to end the Vegas Golden Knights winning streak at six games with a 3-2 victory at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
Zach Whitecloud and Noah Hanifin scored, while Adin Hill made 19 saves for Vegas (25-9-3).
“I think in the third period, we sat back a little bit too much, and no matter what the score is, you’ve got to stay on your toes and attack,” Hanifin said. “I thought in that third we kind of got away from that, which is not normal for us, so I think moving forward, that’s something we can take away.”
Montreal’s Forecheck Pressures Golden Knights
The Canadiens’ forecheck pressure was noticeable, mostly in how they created their goals. They were fast and aggressive and didn’t give the Golden Knights much room to work and break out the puck.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy gave credit and felt his team could have been better at handling the Montreal pressure.
“They have some guys that will pressure you. The plays [that led to turnovers] were below the goal line. Those are tough areas to break pucks out if you’re not moving,” Cassidy said. “So, you’ve got to get moving or have appropriate support. … So, a good forecheck by them.”
Not ‘Complacent’
Cassidy defended that his team was not complacent with its recent run of good form and stretch at home for the holidays. He called his team “opportunistic” in the first and thought they controlled the play for most of the second.
Instead, he gave credit to the Canadiens’ recent play as one of the reasons the Golden Knights failed to pick up two points.
“They’re feeling good about themselves,” Cassidy said. “They kept playing. They pushed, forced a turnover, got to the front of the net, and that’s how you score against us, right? We’re not usually giving you freebies, and they earned those plays. But they all started on our stick, that’s what I’m saying. They did a good job with that; we didn’t do a good enough job taking care of the puck or executing, so I don’t think it was complacency.”
Defensemen Activate
On the two goals the Golden Knights scored, it came from defensemen activating into the offensive zone.
“We have a real mobile D-core in general,” Hanifin said. “That’s part of our team’s success. Just trying to get up in the rush and be that fourth layer coming in late into the zone. We have a lot of highly skilled forwards that can find us there joining. So that’s something I’ve been trying to do recently.”
Fans React: Golden Knights lose to Canadiens 3-2, snap 6-game win streak
Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.
