Vegas Golden Knights Lose First Game in Franchise History After Horrific Third Period VS Detroit
A terrible third-period performance doomed the Vegas Golden Knights versus the Detroit Red Wings.
The Vegas Golden Knights put their undefeated record on the line tonight when they took on the Detroit Red Wings. The second home game in team history had a lot of red in the stands after all Red Wings fans are known to travel well. And ironically, it was a sign to come later on in the night.
An evenly contested first period for the most part, but It didn’t start well for our Golden Knights. Just over a minute and a half into the game, a failed slapshot attempt from Jason Garrison sent the Red Wings off to the races on a two on one chance. Henrik Zetterberg made a beautiful pass over to Gustav Nyquist who made no mistake burying it past Marc-Andre Fleury.
Vegas battled hard all period long but couldn’t solve Petr Mrazek. Although, Brendan Leipsic had a chance to tie the game who had a wide open shot at the net and he just completely missed it. It’s frustrating to see because Leipsic had a pretty good game overall.
The second period began, and the Golden Knights came out with a little more pressure. The NHL’s newest franchise got on the board almost halfway through the game when Reilly Smith found Jonathan Marchessault for the tying goal. However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Golden Knights in the second.
Defenseman Luca Sbisa tangled up with Darren Helm, and Nate Schmidt decided to come to the rescue but at the wrong time. Zetterberg got his third of the year on a mini-breakaway sliding one on the backhand past Fleury. The Golden Knights answered quickly and didn’t stop there.
The Knights scored two goals in two and a half minutes to tie and take the lead starting with “Real Deal” James Neal. The chemistry between Neal, David Perron, and Cody Eakin is a sight to see. Perron fed Neal on his tape cross-ice, and Neal roofed it past Mrazek to tie the game. Then Vegas took the lead when Sbisa’s point shot got tipped by Erik Haula for his first of the year.
Everything seemed to look great heading into the third and final frame, but that changed real quick. A four-goal barrage by the Red Wings put the Golden Knights in a huge hole. First, Anthony Mantha went to the net untouched and whipped one past Fleury. Then Frans Nielsen scored on an odd-man rush after coming out of the penalty box.
The torcher didn’t stop there; another odd-man rush dug the Knights in as Nyquist slammed home the rebound for his second of the night. Then finally Luke Glendening salted this one away with a clean snapshot past Fleury coming down the wing. It was not the best performance from “the Flower” tonight allowing six goals on 27 shots.
The 32-year-old netminder got a knee to the head in the second period, and he was okay to play the rest of the game. You have to wonder if that collision hindered his performance at all. If I had to guess, it was just an off night for Fleury, and I expect him back in net Sunday.
First off, with my third star of the night, I’ll choose Erik Haula who was all over the ice. The jitterbug recorded his first goal of the year, got in the first fight in Golden Knights history and created quality scoring chances around the net.
Gustav Nyquist notched two goals and an assist and gave the Knights fits all night, he takes the second-star honor. And obviously my number one star of the evening is none other than Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg. A four-point night and the catalyst of the comeback deserves that recognition.
Next: Who is the Most Underrated Player on the Vegas Golden Knights Roster?
All in all, it was a decent first 40 by our Golden Knights. But the ugliest period in franchise history is officially behind them. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a lineup change on the blue line because that defensive effort in that third period was atrocious. The team must clean up those costly errors in practice tomorrow before taking on the Boston Bruins at T-Mobile Arena Sunday afternoon at 4 PM PT.