Slumping Vegas Golden Knights drop fifth straight in LA

Notes & Stats From The Game

This was the Vegas Golden Knights lineup against the LA Kings:

Pacioretty-Karlsson-Smith
Marchessault-Eakin-Stone
Tuch-Stastny-Glass
Carrier-Nosek-Reaves

McNabb-Schmidt
Merrill-Holden
Hague-Theodore

Subban

And these were the healthy scratches for the Vegas Golden Knights:

• Deryk Engelland
• Nicolas Roy
• Brandon Pirri

Here are some key stats from the game:

• SOG – VGK: 31 – LAK: 25
• FO% – VGK: 51% – LAK: 49%
• PP – VGK: 0/3 – LAK: 1/2
• PIM – VGK: 4 – LAK: 6
• HITS – VGK: 21 – LAK: 18
• BLKS – VGK: 10 – LAK: 15
• GVA – VGK: 3 – LAK: 15

Here is the Official Scoring Summary from the game:

• Blake Lizotte (2) – SHG – Kempe (4), Doughty (8) – 10:59 / 1st
• Drew Doughty (5) – PPG – Iafallo (6), Kopitar (15) – 15:10 / 1st
• Max Pacioretty (7) – Smith (6), Karlsson (14) – 7:24 / 2nd
• Nikolai Prokhorkin (1) – Clifford (4), Luff (1) – 9:08 / 2nd
• Jonathan Marchessault (5) – Eakin (4) – 14:52 / 2nd
• William Karlsson (6) – Pacioretty (11), Theodore (7) – 17:06 / 2nd
• Jeff Carter (6) – Roy (3) – 12:42 / 3rd

Let’s go over some notes from the game:

• The Vegas Golden Knights are now 9-9-3 on the year after dropping their fifth straight game.
• The Knights have now lost seven of eight and are currently sitting seventh in the Pacific Division.
• It is worth remembering, however, that the Golden Knights were much better against the Kings, but just lacked that killer instinct to go and finish their opponents off.
• There are signs there that the Knights are on the cusp of turning this around, and they will have a chance to do so tonight at T-Mobile Arena against the Calgary Flames.
• However, whether they can pull out a win or not depends on how they start the game, they need to eradicate last night’s loss from their memory and be ready to play from the first drop of the puck.
• The Knights are now 1-1-0 against the LA Kings this year who have won three straight in what is the first year of a rebuild at Staples Center.
• Malcolm Subban got the start and he wasn’t really at fault for any of the Kings’ four goals, instead making some big saves to keep Vegas in the game.
• However, it is a concern that the Knights keep on hanging Subban out to dry and they don’t seem to play as hard for him as they do for Marc-Andre Fleury.
• This can now be considered an alarming slump for the Vegas Golden Knights and how they get out of it will show us the true extent of the mental strength that exists within that locker room.
• Talking of slumps, Mark Stone has now gone six straight games without recording a single point, and playing on a second line with the struggling Cody Eakin as his center hasn’t helped either.
• Paul Stastny is also in a rut and the forward, who has centered the third line in the last few games, has now gone eight straight games without tallying a single goal or assist.
• Let’s move onto players who are scoring now, however, as William Karlsson recorded a two-point game for the second consecutive outing with a goal and an assist.
• His goal was a real greasy goal too and the franchise forward now leads the team in points with 20 (six goals, 14 assists).
• Max Pacioretty also registered a two-point outing with a goal and an assist, with his goal perhaps lucky to have stood given that it went in off his skate.
• Pacioretty now has seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points through 21 games this season.
• Jonathan Marchessault potted his fifth goal of the year, while Cody Eakin had the primary assist on that tuck.
• Eakin, however, is still looking for his first goal of the year and the struggling forward only has four points through 17 games with a -6 rating.
• Reilly Smith tallied his sixth assist of the year and Shea Theodore recorded assist No.7 of the season.
• The Golden Knights dominated puck possession and on the shot board, outshooting the Kings 31-25.
• The Knights also came out on top in the Faceoff circle (51%-49%), and they outhit their opponents 21-18.
• Vegas went 0-for-3 on the power play and gave up a shorthanded goal, with their PP is now ranked 12th in the NHL (21.1).
• However, their penalty kill still ranks high (4th, 86.8), despite giving up a power play goal against the Kings, who went 1/2 on the man advantage.
• Vegas blocked 10 shots to LA’s 15, although they only had three giveaways compared to the King’s 15.
• Defenseman Nate Schmidt led all Vegas Golden Knights skaters in total ice time with 23:20, including 3:01 on the power play.
• The Official Three Stars of the Night were: 1.Jeff Carter 2. Drew Doughty 3. Nikolai Prokhorkin

Looking Ahead

The Vegas Golden Knights are right back at it as they faceoff against the 10-9-3 Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena today. Game starts at 4:00 p.m. PT.