The Golden Knights fell victim to... a post and Morgan Frost

The first 40 minutes were a calm ride. The last 30 (counting the shootout) was like riding an old F1 car for four laps without a seatbelt…and then crashing into a barrel. Morgan Frost had the winner in the shootout as the Calgary Flames beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 Tuesday night. Vegas was up 3-1 going into the third before Nazem Kadri’s 33rd goal of the season 32 seconds in, sparking a flurry of entertaining messiness that led to their first road loss since last month in Detroit.

On the plus side, it’s better to have this kind of mess now rather than in Game 1 against the Wild in five or six days. Here are my three takeaways from a roller coaster Tuesday night in Calgary.

Ilya Samsonov returned to the Vegas net, along with his variants

The big news heading into the game was the return of Ilya Samsonov, who got his first start since March 23rd against Tampa Bay. Through the course of the game, three different Samsonovs showed up. There was the "Good Samsonov", looking steady and controlled and making pretty good saves. There was the “Ugh!” Samsonov, who got shown up in the first period to Morgan Frost. Then there was "Bad Samsonov", especially in the first two minutes of the third.

Given Akira Schmid’s performances in net since he was injured, there’s probably gonna be a debate over which one ends up backing up Adin Hill against Minnesota in Round 1. I’d lean toward Samsonov right now, warts and all. But it wouldn’t shock me if Bruce Cassidy tapped Schmid to be the backup.

Penalty kill woes a microcosm of Vegas’ night

The Golden Knights had killed off 13 of the last 14 opposition power plays heading into Tuesday night’s game. Then came the Frost goal five seconds into Calgary’s first power play chance and there was a sense this was gonna be one of those nights for the penalty kill. One that was hammered home with the Nazem Kadri power play goal early in the third.

The good news is that the Minnesota Wild are fairly mid on the power play (18th). So there’s a chance to get things humming again on that end come Game 1. The bad news? The highest power play ranking of the five other teams to score two power play goals on Vegas’ PK this season is Chicago at eighth in the league. The other four occupy the bottom 10 in the league with the man advantage.

Brandon Saad and Victor Olofsson quietly shine amidst the chaos

On a positive note, there were a couple of encouraging notes from players who have had a tough time finding the back of the net lately. First, there was Brandon Saad, who had his first goal in 15 games in that chaotic third period, helping to scrape a point from the whole affair. He also had a couple of assists in that perfectly calm and collected first for the Golden Knights. It was his first multi-point game since March 20th against Boston.

Then there was Victor Olofsson who came back to the lineup on the first line after sitting out a couple of games. He didn’t register a point, but he was all over and engaging with the offense pretty well, leading the team in shots with five. With any extra scrap of luck, he easily could’ve been the night’s hero. You could also say that about Vegas in the shootout itself, but that’s another story.

Next on the Marquee:

Vegas puts a dainty bow tomorrow night in Vancouver against the Canucks at 7 P.M. I wouldn’t mind seeing another entertaining mess, but only if it ends in a Golden Knights win. But it’s hard to believe Rick Tocchet is gonna let his team get to the level we saw Tuesday in Calgary, especially given how close they played Vegas right up to that third period a week and a half ago. Until then…