It was another brutal first period for the Vegas Golden Knights as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the LA Kings on Thursday night.
As was the case in their previous two outings, the Vegas Golden Knights were not ready to play from the first drop of the puck and they were made to pay.
It was arguably the worse first period they had played this year too given that the Knights were smoked by the Kings in the opening 20-minutes, who scored four unanswered goals.
All of LA’s goals in the first period were scored in quick succession, with Alec Martinez and Ben Hutton both beating Malcolm Subban with slap shots.
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Tyler Toffoli and Adrian Kempe inflicted more misery on Vegas before the first intermission, and it didn’t get much better for the home crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
Reilly Smith did get the Knights on the board in the second period after burying a loose puck, before Max Pacioretty recorded his 20th goal of the regular season with a wrister.
However, that couldn’t really spark Vegas’ offense into life and the game was iced late in the third period when Kempe converted on the power play.
It was a bad loss for the Vegas Golden Knights who have now dropped two straight, and we’ve broken down the game by going through The Good, The Bad & The Ugly…
The Good
Staying out of the box – Maybe we’re clutching at straws here, but the Golden Knights did a good of staying out of the box throughout the game.
They gave the Kings just one opportunity on the power play, which came right at the end of the game, although all LA needed was just one chance as Adrian Kempe converted on the PP.
In-fact, it was a game with few stoppages with both teams combining for a total of just four penalty minutes.
Max Pacioretty / Reilly Smith – The Golden Knights recorded just two goals against the Kings and they came from their two leaders in goals.
Reilly Smith recorded his 18th goal of the year while Max Pacioretty tallied his 20th, and both players have been consistent offensive threats throughout the regular season.
The Knights flung 46 shots on net but Jack Campbell stood on his head with 44 saves, and it could have been a blowout were it not for Pacioretty and Smith.
The Bad
Defense – The blueline has been less than stellar for the majority of the 2019-20 regular season, and their flaws were painfully exposed again against the LA Kings.
The first goal came after the Knights failed to clear the zone with Alec Martinez hammering in a slap shot, while LA’s third goal came right off the draw.
Vegas coughed up six Giveaways in total and they failed to protect backup Malcolm Subban, who had a rough night.
Malcolm Subban – It has been said a lot but Malcolm Subban isn’t good when he’s coming in cold. His last start prior to Thursday came on Dec. 27, against the Anaheim Ducks, and you could tell the goalie was rusty.
However, it wasn’t all on Subban given that he was screened by Alex Iafallo for Ben Hutton’s goal, although maybe he could have reacted quicker to a rebound for LA’s fourth goal after making a superb pad save on the initial shot.
Again, Subban was left exposed time and time again but the goalie would no doubt want a couple of those goals back.
The Ugly
First Period struggles – For the third consecutive game, the Vegas Golden Knights have been in a slumber to start the game.
And it is costing them badly.
We mentioned it at the time but the comeback against the St. Louis Blues, when they were in a three-goal hole, was more the exception than the rule.
So it proved against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday when the Knights effectively lost the game in the first period and couldn’t mount a comeback.
And it happened again on Thursday as the Golden Knights allowed four unanswered goals in the first period, being outshot 18-10.
In total, the Golden Knights have been outscored 9-0 in the last three first periods combined and that just isn’t going to get the job done.
There is no exact science to determine just why the Knights are struggling so badly in first periods at the moment, but it is clear that you will more often than not lose games if you get blown out in the opening 20 minutes.
And that is a major concern right now.