On a day where the headlines focused around Jack Eichel and Victor Olofsson’s return to the team that drafted them, it was a former Golden Knight who ended up stealing the show. Original Misfit Alex Tuch had the winner in the shootout as the Buffalo Sabres beat the Golden Knights 4-3 in the shootout, without leading for a single second in the previous 65 minutes of action. That was just the cherry on the ice cream sundae of weirdness that was this game, which featured two goals and two fights within the span of 2:48 in the second. Here are my three takeaways from a morning in Buffalo to Tuch away deep into the recesses of this season.
🎥 Olofsson: I don't think we came up to our standard today. pic.twitter.com/tNnmzVq1tW
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 15, 2025
OT/shootout pains haunt the Golden Knights again
Vegas has one shootout win this season against the Flyers back in December, a marked dip from the four shootout wins last season and the five the year before that. They’ve only gone past the requisite three rounds once (November 27 against Colorado), and usually with the same 2-1 shootout line in the opponents’ direction, which happened to be the same line today in Buffalo. As for the extra frame, it’s even worse.
Last season, the Golden Knights had eight OT wins. This season, it’s just two: The last one being the middle of the sparkling December 12 against Winnipeg. In those wins? The goals came 3:11 into OT. In the five OT losses this season? All but one of those came within the first minute of overtime. That pattern was almost broken by Dahlin in the opening frame. But the trouble still sits there waiting to be fixed, especially come postseason time. All you need to do is look at Game 3 of the Dallas series last year for proof of that.
Offense stuck on snooze at inopportune times
It took a lot of work for the Golden Knights to come close to hitting the 20 shot mark on Ukko Pekka-Lukkonen. That sentence alone is both a source of weirdness and a slight credit to a defensive structure for Buffalo that was ready to play. It was also mixed with really long moments of nothingness offensively that has been trouble at times for this team. There were eight instances where Vegas had a shotless drought in this game of five minutes or longer. For a goalie who’d given up two or more goals in a period seven straight games before today, that is nothing but fried gold for one’s self-esteem. The final score is proof of that…
Adin Hill with a thankless Herculean effort in net
Speaking of goalies, as well as Jack Eichel was in that third period (congrats on point #80), Adin Hill I think was the best player today for Vegas. He was the sole reason that Vegas was able to keep the lead as long as they did when it probably would’ve faded earlier with a fraction more effect or luck on the part of the Sabres. True, the goal to Ryan McLeod was a bit of a soft one. But the other regulation goals that he gave up were just good shots that beat him clean. Also, the 19 giveaways the Golden Knights had weren’t anywhere close to helpful.
Next on the Marquee:
We finish off the morning back-to-back and the road trip with a jaunt to the “Pizza Box” (aka Little Ceasars Arena) for a game against the Detroit Red Wings at 10 A.M. Vegas is catching them in the middle of a 1-6-0 stretch since the start of the month, including a 4-2 loss on Friday to Carolina. Unfortunately, it’s one that looks a heck of a lot like the one we caught with Buffalo, and we saw how well that went. On the plus side, there’s no way a game can be as weird in a bad way as it was today. Right? …Right?! Anyway, till then...