Vegas Golden Knights Vs. Canes: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

It should have been a triumphant homecoming but, instead, the Vegas Golden Knights dropped a tough loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

In what was a wild game at T-Mobile Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights looked to be on their way to a second consecutive victory, before the Canes decided to have the last laugh.

Max Pacioretty and Jon Merrill jumped the Knights out to a two-goal lead, although Teuvo Teravainen made it a one-goal game at the end of the first period.

Shea Theodore then buried a pass from Reilly Smith on an odd-man rush seconds into the middle frame, before the game really exploded in the final period.

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Sebastian Aho recorded his 30th goal of the year early in the third period, although the game appeared to be all but over when Chandler Stephenson responded immediately thanks to a shorthanded breakaway.

However, as has often been the case this year, the Golden Knights exploded when they were on top in spectacular fashion.

The Canes scored three unanswered goals via Erik Haula, Haydn Fleury and Martin Necas to seize the lead, although Cody Eakin beat James Reimer on a wraparound to take the game to overtime.

Carolina dominated at 3-on-3 and, were it not for a few posts and couple of big saves from Marc-Andre Fleury, the Hurricanes would have the game wrapped up by the shootout.

However, to a shootout it went and the game was decided by a player used to coming up clutch in Justin Williams, who scored the game-winner to give the Hurricanes the two points.

It was a tough loss for the Vegas Golden Knights who completely gave the game away so, on that note, let’s delve into The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…

The Good

Warmup Jerseys – Just how slick were those warmup jerseys?! To celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Vegas Golden Knights donned one-off jerseys featuring players names in Mandarin.

The jerseys looked incredible and, I don’t know about you, but I like a lot of these jerseys that Adidas have produced.

Nate Schmidt – We featured the defenseman in our ‘Three Players that need to step it up’ feature earlier this month, and it appears that Nate Schmidt has listened.

Because, since returning from the All-Star Break, Schmidt has looked more like his old self which is incredibly good news for the Vegas Golden Knights.

Since Peter DeBoer took over from the fired Gerard Gallant on Jan. 15, Schmidt has two goals and six assists for eight points and he’s jumping up in the play and making things happen again.

While the Golden Knights will likely acquire a defenseman at the Trade Deadline, having Nate Schmidt back at the peak of his powers will be just as valuable.

The Bad

Marc-Andre Fleury – This wasn’t a great outing from the future Hall of Famer.

Although he made some big saves in Overtime, Fleury could have done better with a couple of the goals he allowed while he his habit of being far too aggressive with the poke-check is starting to hurt Vegas.

Although Fleury has been better as of late, this was a night to forget for the goalie who is enduring a down year, and the Golden Knights need elite goaltending and they need it soon.

The Ugly

Bad habits never die – We’ve been here before, haven’t we?

The Vegas Golden Knights’ inability to play a complete 60-minute game reared its ugly head again on Saturday.

The Knights allowed three unanswered goals in the third period to gift total control of the contest to the Canes, only for Cody Eakin to take the game to overtime.

However, Vegas was dominated in overtime and were eventually defeated in the shootout, but they never should have been in that position.

This was another choke job by the Golden Knights and you can’t keep giving away games like this down the stretch.

Overtime struggles – Man, the Vegas Golden Knights have really struggled in overtime and in the shootout this year.

The Golden Knights have now lost eight games in either overtime or in the shootout this year, and that isn’t going to get the job done.

There is no exact science as to why the Knights have struggled in overtime and in the shootout this year, but it is an area they need to improve in if they are to avoid another early postseason exit.