Terrible first period dooms Vegas in 5-3 loss to Nashville

Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg scored 2:32 apart in the first period, powering the Nashville Predators to a 5-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. Justin Barron and Ryan O’Reilly also scored, and Justus Annunen had 19 saves for Nashville.

Pavel Dorofeyev had a natural hat trick for Vegas, who have lost three of four. Ilya Samsonov had 18 saves in the losing effort.

The first period was…honestly, there’s no other way to put it. It was the worst period of hockey the Golden Knights have played this season since the second period against Edmonton just over a month ago. The offense was slow and sleepy, not registering their first shot until 3:12 left.

It was their lowest shot total in a period since last year, also against the Predators. As much as Samsonov tried to keep the scoresheet clean, eventually Nashville struck. The first goal came just after the halfway mark from their big free agent signing, Steven Stamkos.

It was followed a few minutes later by one of the more underrated forwards in the game, Filip Forsberg, shooting it past Samsonov on the one-timer. As the period ended, the vibe was visible from space: this was a pretty long night for Vegas.

That feeling only grew deeper and deeper as the second period rolled along. Another long gap in shooting by the Golden Knights was followed by another two-goal burst by the Preds in as many minutes. First, it came from Justin Barron, his first in Nashville since being traded from Montreal to Nashville back on Dec. 19. The shot beat Samsonov after gently strolling into the Golden Knights end like a field of daisies.

Stamkos makes the night harder for the Vegas Golden Knights

Then came the second goal of the night by Stamkos off a (sadly) familiarly efficient setup from Jonathan Marchessault.

It was that goal that finally woke the team up to try to get back into the game, one player in particular more than the rest: Pavel Dorofeyev. He got the first goal nearly 30 seconds after, finishing off a pass from Victor Olofsson alley-oop style. It was followed by a second one on the power play off a quick Tomas Hertl feed 4:50 later. They rode some semblance of momentum from those goals the rest of the period, registering the last five shots on goal.

In the third, Vegas continued peppering Annunen with shots for stretches. Even though it was like last week against the New York Islanders, the shots weren’t breaking through. That is, until Dorofeyev completed the natural hat trick (thanks to the beauty of a between-the-legs setup by Olofsson), giving the last 4:40 a tiny bit of dramatic juice for the fans watching.

Ultimately, the goal ended up as a last hurrah in the game as, even with the empty net, the Golden Knights couldn’t find the tying marker. Just before the final horn, Ryan O’Reilly dunked it into the empty net to put a sad trombone to the evening.

Next on the Marquee:

After much-needed rest and likely grumbling is a trip to Carolina Friday night at 4 P.M. to take on the ‘Canes. There’s no doubt it’ll be as tough as this game was, given the 5-2 thumping they gave the Golden Knights back in November. Vegas is 5-5-3 against the Hurricanes, with their last victory being on March 11, 2023. But there’s a good comfort to take into the rest of the evening: it can't be worse than that first period in Nashville was. Until then…