The Golden Knights dug themselves a hole Thursday night and never escaped it.
Utah scored three times in the first 8:12, Karel Vejmelka stopped all 28 shots he faced, and Vegas fell 4-0 at T-Mobile Arena. As a result, the Golden Knights dropped to third in the Pacific Division at 31-24-14. It was also their second straight shutout loss.
Buried early
Vegas started with pace.
The Golden Knights put the first five shots on net and forced Vejmelka into work right away. Early looks from Jack Eichel, Ivan Barbashev and Tomas Hertl created some pressure, but nothing got through.
Then Utah flipped the game in a hurry.
Clayton Keller opened the scoring at 2:52 on a weak-side finish. Later, he struck again at 6:05 after Vegas got stretched out. Jack McBain then made it 3-0 at 8:12, finishing another sequence that caught the Knights scrambling.
Bruce Cassidy made a quick change in goal after Utah scored on its first three shots. Adin Hill came out, and Akira Schmid entered in relief. From there, Schmid stopped all 14 shots he faced and settled the game down.
Cassidy said the move was about both the moment and the bigger picture.
“Well, it’s always both,” Cassidy said. “They had three shots, they scored on all three of them. Akira hasn’t played in a while. Adin’s played a lot of games in a row.”
Too much chase
That opening stretch changed the night.
Vegas spent the final 50 minutes trying to recover, and that script has become too familiar. Although the Knights controlled long stretches after the early damage, they again played from behind instead of setting the terms.
Brayden McNabb said the start drained the building and the bench.
“You give up three in a row and it just kind of deflates you, puts you on your heels,” McNabb said.
Still, he liked the response.
“From that point on, we kind of controlled the game,” McNabb said. “Just again, we’ve got to find ways to get the puck in the net here.”
Vegas finished with a 28-18 edge in shots. However, too many attempts missed the net or failed to test Vejmelka cleanly. Utah had 24 giveaways, so the Knights created enough zone time to make a push. Even so, Vegas missed the net 20 times and passed up too many chances.
Cassidy pointed right at that problem.
“I’m concerned that we’re turning down opportunities to shoot,” Cassidy said. “There comes a time you’ve got to shoot the puck in those situations.”
He also kept the bigger issue simple.
“We got shut out two games in a row,” Cassidy said. “Hit the net more often and take the shots that are there. We’re overpassing a little bit, too much.”
Push without payoff
Vegas looked more like itself after the first intermission, but the finish never came.
Schmid made key stops on Keller and Dylan Guenther to keep it 3-0. Meanwhile, Noah Hanifin, McNabb, Shea Theodore, Mitch Marner and Eichel all generated chances. Braeden Bowman had a pair in tight late in the second. Later, Mark Stone hit the post, and Keegan Kolesar rang another off the iron in the third.
The push was there. The finish was not.
Hanifin said the group knows it cannot keep chasing games.
“You just don’t want to be chasing games all the time,” Hanifin said. “Our identity in years past has just been to overwhelm teams and control the game and keep it simple and hard and just wear teams down.”
He said the looks were there, but the execution was missing.
“We had some good looks,” Hanifin said. “It’s just a matter of putting them in.”
Barrett Hayton added an empty-net goal at 19:12 of the third. By then, though, the damage had long been done.
Pacific squeeze
The loss also tightened the standings.
Vegas fell to third in the Pacific with 76 points, trailing Anaheim by two and Edmonton by one. Meanwhile, Los Angeles sits at 72, Seattle at 71 and San Jose at 70, so the margin stays thin heading into the final stretch.
That is what made this one sting. The Golden Knights have little room left to waste strong stretches with poor starts and empty finishes.
Up next
Vegas heads out for a three-game trip in four days. First, the Golden Knights visit Nashville on Saturday at 11 a.m. PDT. Then they face Dallas on Sunday at 4 p.m. PDT and Winnipeg on Tuesday at 5 p.m. PDT.
Related stories
Golden Knights shut out 2-0 by Sabres as Luukkonen stands tall
Golden Knights blank Blackhawks 4-0 as Dorofeyev scores twice again
Welcome to Dice City Sports — where we provide premium, exclusive, up-to-date news and analysis surrounding the Las Vegas sports scene. Follow along on social media, and check back for new articles daily!
Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
