Vegas Golden Knights can’t contain Bruins’ top line in first loss of the year

In what was a real litmus test for both teams, the Vegas Golden Knights dropped their first game of the 2019-20 NHL regular season after losing to the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Tuesday.

Boston’s potent top line exploded into life and punished the Vegas Golden Knights who held a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the big hitters of the Bruins proved too hot to handle and a poor night from the bottom six also didn’t help matters.

The Golden Knights are now 2-1-0 after last night’s loss against what is an elite 3-0-0 Boston team, who will no doubt be a serious contender for the Stanley Cup Final again this year after making the Final in 2018-19.

Marc-Andre Fleury, making his third consecutive start, stopped 31 of the 35 shots he faced and the Knights’ top guns all delivered but the Bruins’ formidable top line is one of the best in the NHL for a reason and they woke from their slumber to inflict some serious damage on Vegas.

There were positives to take from the contest, however. The Golden Knights were not outmatched or outclassed by any means but cheap turnovers and a poor night from the team’s depth forwards ultimately hurt them as Boston secured their best start to an NHL season since 2001-02.

Mark Stone recorded a two-point night for the third consecutive game and now has six points (two goals, four assists) on the year, while that second line continues to mesh well with Max Pacioretty tallying a goal and an assist and Cody Glass also picked up his first NHL assist.

And Vegas’ very own top line continued their solid start to 2019-20 with William Karlsson, Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault all tallying points but, again, the Knights’ top two lines received no help from their depth forwards.

Let’s delve into the game period-by-period but, first, let’s take a look at the lineup for the Vegas Golden Knights…

The Lineup

Why fix what isn’t broken? That was the attitude of Vegas Golden Knights Head Coach Gerard Gallant who stuck with the same lineup that dismantled the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Friday night.

Marc-Andre Fleury got his third consecutive start after stopping 55 of 57 shots in his first two games, while rookie Nic Hague was looking to build on what was a solid NHL debut against the Sharks.

The forward units also remained the same and there was confidence flowing through all four lines following a superb start to 2019-20 where they outscored the Sharks 9-2, getting contributions from up and down the lineup.

The Game

First Period – Although Boston looked the most composed of the two teams in the opening exchanges, the Golden Knights’ power play got a chance to flex their muscles early on and they wasted little time in punishing the Bruins.

Cody Glass battled hard along the boards and he was rewarded with his first career assist in the NHL as he slipped the puck to Max Pacioretty who in turn fed Mark Stone on the spin and the forward wristed home the opening goal of the game.

And the Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead at 8:20 as their top line decided to steal the limelight away from their Boston counterparts. Karlsson’s wrister was stopped by Tuukka Rask but Marchessault recycled the puck before finding Smith on the backdoor and he did the rest.

It was all going to plan for the Golden Knights but the star power of the Boston Bruins soon clicked and they began to dominate the second half of the first period.

Deryk Engelland and Nic Hague could not get the puck out of the zone and they were punished emphatically as Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron set up David Pastrnak who one-timed home his first goal of the year.

And that explosive top line made it a tied game at 18:58 as Torey Krug and Pastrnak moved it around well on the power play, allowing Marchand to send a vicious one-timer past Fleury and that was the first goal Vegas had allowed on the man advantage this year.

Second Period – The momentum was firmly with the Bruins and it took them seconds to take the lead in the middle frame as Marchand wristed a wicked shot over Fleury for his second of the game with Pastrnak picking up his second assist.

And another costly turnover, this time from Nick Holden, came back to haunt the Knights as Torey Krug one-timed it from the point with Brandon Carlo and Sean Kuraly claiming the assists.

Max Pacioretty and Jonathan Marchessault both went close for Vegas but a poor effort from their bottom six forward unit wasn’t helping, and the Bruins were in control heading into the third period.

Third Period – Marc-Andre Fleury made a plethora of huge saves to start the final period, getting a pad out to rob Brad Marchand on the breakaway attempt before denying David Pastrnak, and he then produced two sublime stops to thwart both Jake DeBrusk and David Backes in quick succession.

Fleury was standing on his head for his team and that allowed the Knights to remain in the game, although they were being completely dominated and were being outshot 11-7 in the third period.

But the Golden Knights gave themselves a chance at 14:42 as Max Pacioretty absolutely sniped a shot past Tuukka Rask for Vegas’ second power play goal of the night, with Shea Theodore and Mark Stone assisting on the tuck.

But it proved to be a case of too little too late as the Golden Knights dropped their first game of the year to what is a very, very good Boston Bruins outfit. It was an entertaining game and it was a good measuring stick for Vegas, who will have positives and negatives to take from the contest.

Let’s go over some notes and stats from the game…