Vegas Golden Knights slump again in loss to red hot Dallas Stars
Another night and another loss for the Vegas Golden Knights who dropped a 4-2 stinker to the red hot Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Monday night.
Looking to snap a two-game losing streak, the Vegas Golden Knights fell behind early to the Stars who never looked back and tied a franchise record with seven consecutive victories.
It was another bad night at the office for the Golden Knights who gave themselves too big a mountain to climb after spotting a very, very good Dallas team a 2-0 lead.
Alexander Radulov got the Stars on the board midway through the first period, and Esa Lindell made it a two-goal game minutes later moments after the Knights had a chance to make it a tied game.
The Knights did get on the board in the second thanks to Shea Theodore‘s second goal in as many games, but that was quickly wiped out by Jason Dickinson at the end of the period.
Dallas were allowing the Golden Knights to hang in the game and Paul Stastny‘s seventh goal of the year in the third period made it a contest, although Radulov’s second goal of the night ended any hopes.
Let’s delve into the game by breaking it down period-by-period…
The Game
First Period – Jon Merrill took a two-minute penalty for tripping inside the opening 25 seconds of the game, and that really set the tone for what was to come.
Vegas killed off that power play but it wasn’t long until they were back on the penalty kill following a slashing call on Jonathan Marchessault after the forward had sent a one-timer wide of the net.
Reilly Smith got a shorthanded chance, which is as common in life as Death and Taxes, but the penalty kill couldn’t get the job done again as the red hot Stars landed the first blow of the night at 11:42.
John Klingberg let rip with a shot from the point and Alexander Radulov was positioned well in-front of the net to get a deflection on the shot.
And it only got worse for the Golden Knights at 13:25 as Tyler Seguin and Andrew Cogliano played a neat game of tic-tac-toe before the latter sent a sublime cross-ice feed over to Esa Lindell who went five-hole on Malcolm Subban.
Speaking of Subban, the backup goalie misplayed the puck behind the net but, to his credit, got back in position to make a brilliant recovery save with his glove as Dallas outshot the Knights 16-6.
Second Period – Vegas had an early power play in the middle frame but they couldn’t take advantage as Ben Bishop kept out deflected shots from William Carrier and Tomas Nosek.
But the power play would become a problem as the Golden Knights went on to have a further four minutes on the man advantage, but failed to record a single shot on goal as Dallas killed off both power plays with ease.
They did come close to converting on the PP, though, as Shea Theodore skated in before flipping a backhand shot past Bishop seconds after the man advantage had expired.
But the Knights couldn’t build on that goal and it was a two-goal game again heading into the final period after Jason Dickinson received a feed from Alexander Radulov on a 3-on-two rush, before beating Malcolm Subban with a shot that bounced off the goalie and went in.
The Golden Knights were giving the Stars far too much space and the hosts’ plethora of big hitters were exploiting it time and time again, despite being outshot 13-2 by Vegas in the second period.
Third Period – Vegas got a huge boost at 1:23 in the final period as Paul Stastny backhanded a feed from Mark Stone past Ben Bishop in what was his 900th career game in the NHL.
Malcolm Subban made a stop on Jason Dickinson after Alex Tuch coughed up a bad turnover, and a bad hooking penalty from Cody Glass led to the final goal of the game.
On the power play no less than 10 seconds, Alexander Radulov potted his second goal at 12:11 after backhanding a rebound from John Klingberg’s shot from the point past Subban.
Subban was pulled with over two minutes remaining but it was a tactic that didn’t pay off as the Vegas Golden Knights suffered their third straight loss.
Let’s go over some notes & stats from the game…
Notes & Stats From The Game
This was the Vegas Golden Knights Lineup against the Dallas Stars:
Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith
Pacioretty-Stastny-Stone
Tuch-Eakin-Glass
Carrier-Nosek-Reaves
McNabb-Schmidt
Hague-Theodore
Merrill-Holden
Subban
These were the healthy scratches for the Vegas Golden Knights:
Here are some key stats from the game:
- SOG – VGK: 28 – DAL: 28
- FO% – VGK: 54% – DAL: 46%
- PP – VGK: 0/4 – DAL: 2/3
- PIM – VGK: 8 – DAL: 10
- HITS – VGK: 21 – DAL: 23
- BLKS – VGK: 20 – DAL: 29
- GVA – VGK: 11 – DAL: 20
And here is the Official Scoring Summary from the game:
- Alexander Radulov (7) – PPG – Klingberg (5), Seguin (14) – 11:42 / 1st
- Esa Lindell (2) – Cogliano (4), Seguin (15) – 13:25 / 1st
- Shea Theodore (3) – Carrier (4), Reaves (2) – 13:48 / 2nd
- Jason Dickinson (4) – Radulov (7), Klingberg (6) – 17:41 / 2nd
- Paul Stastny (7) – Stone (11), Pacioretty (15) – 1:23 / 3rd
- Alexander Radulov (8) – PPG – Klingberg (7), Janmark (6) – 12:11 / 3rd
Let’s go over some notes from the game:
- The Vegas Golden Knights are 11-11-4 on the year and have now dropped three straight after losing to the Dallas Stars.
- Speaking of the Stars, they tied a franchise record with seven consecutive wins thanks in large part to three-point nights from John Klingberg (three assists) and Alexander Radulov (two goals, one assist).
- Dallas is a Stanley Cup contender with a loaded roster and they certainly look more equipped for success than the Golden Knights do right now.
- The Knights conclude this short road trip with a tough game in Nashville against the Predators on Wednesday, and it is one they really need right now.
- After this loss, the Golden Knights are 5th in the Pacific Division and are nine points behind the leaders, the Edmonton Oilers. Not great, Bob, not great.
- Deryk Engelland was the lone healthy scratch for Vegas while Head Coach Gerard Gallant went back to his usual forward lines, with Cody Eakin dropping back down to the third line.
- Malcolm Subban got the start in goal and allowed four goals on 28 shots, including a couple he probably would want back.
- The backup goalie is an area of weakness for the Golden Knights, and we’ll address that in an article later in the week.
- Shea Theodore recorded his third goal of the year and his second goal in as many games, with William Carrier and Ryan Reaves picking up their fourth and second assists of the year respectively on that goal.
- Paul Stastny tallied a goal in the third period and that was his seventh goal and 11th point of the year, in what was his 900th career game in the National Hockey League.
- And Stastny now has 50 points (21 goals, 29 assists) in 49 career games against the Dallas Stars.
- Mark Stone picked up assist No. 11 of the year on Stastny’s goal, while Max Pacioretty registered his 15th assist of the year on the goal.
- It was good to see that second line back together and, at this point, I think the Knights just need to rely on their top six and address secondary scoring at the Trade Deadline.
- There were a number of factors that played into this loss, but a slow start and losing the special teams battle were chief among them.
- Speaking of special teams, the Vegas Golden Knights went 0-for-4 on the power play, which is now ranked ninth in the NHL with a percentage of 21.7.
- The Knights also generated just four shots on goal in four power play attempts, and that is beyond poor.
- They also didn’t get the job done on the penalty kill, allowing two goals and eight shots on three attempts. That won’t get it done.
- They did outperform the Stars in the Faceoff circle (54%-46%), but they were outhit 23-21 and they had 20 blocked shots compared to Dallas’ 29.
- All in all, it was just a bad night at the office for the Vegas Golden Knights and they are starting to pile up.
- As of right now, I still believe that they will make the postseason but, if they play like they are right now, they won’t make it out of the First Round.
- Ryan Reaves contributed just two hits and William Carrier had none, and that probably sums up the game for the Golden Knights.
- Nate Schmidt led all Vegas Golden Knights skaters in total ice time with 23:20 minutes.
- The Official Three Stars of the Game were, unsurprisingly, all from the Dallas Stars:
- 1. Alexander Radulov 2. John Klingberg 3. Esa Lindell
dark. Next. Karlsson quietly carving out impressive year
Looking Ahead
The Vegas Golden Knights wrap up this short road trip with a game against the Predators in Nashville on Wednesday, before taking on the Arizona Coyotes the day after Thanksgiving. A big rest of the week for the Knights.