Golden Knights fall again via shootout as Devils prevail — PHOTOS

It was expected that the Golden Knights wouldn’t have the cleanest of games without their star center and No. 1 defenseman.

Even trailing by a goal late in the third period, the Knights found a way to give themselves a chance for a second point.

But for a team that put 37 shots on the opposing goalie, the Knights couldn’t find that second goal and lost 2-1 in a shootout to the New Jersey Devils at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

“We’ll still take the point, but it sucks we didn’t get two,” center Tomas Hertl said.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored the tying power play goal with 4:10 remaining on a broken play in which he was alone on the backdoor.

The Knights (16-6-10) needed that kind of play to go their way, given they were without center Jack Eichel (illness) and defenseman Shea Theodore (upper body).

But they found a way to extend their point streak to eight games in what is a quick trip home for the Knights before playing a Western Canada back-to-back in Calgary on Saturday and Edmonton on Sunday.

Coach Bruce Cassidy labeled Eichel and Theodore as day to day, but their status for that road trip is up in the air, especially after Cassidy’s comments where it seemed like Eichel might be out longer than one game.

“I don’t know how much time (Eichel’s) going to miss,” Cassidy said.

The Knights are off Thursday but will practice Friday before traveling to Calgary.

They did get defenseman Jeremy Lauzon back after missing a month with an undisclosed injury. Lauzon played 13:52 and committed his 10th minor penalty of the season on a boarding call at 12:21 of the first.

Devils win shootout

New Jersey left wing Jesper Bratt scored the lone goal in the shootout in the top of the second round.

Goaltender Carter Hart made 32 saves, and the Knights earned a point for the fifth time in Hart’s five starts. The Knights were coming off a East Coast road trip during which they went 4-0-1.

The Knights looked a step behind defensively and had to have Hart bail them out, stopping all eight shots he faced.

Devils goaltender Jake Allen carried a shutout into the third period before Dorofeyev’s goal and finished with 36 saves, earning his 10th win of the season.

That included 10 saves in the opening 20 minutes.

“It wasn’t our best game,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “I thought both goalies played outstanding today. Carter kept us in it in the first, for sure, and we had our looks. Their goalie played well.”

New Jersey (19-14-1) won for the third time in its past 10 games.

Even without Eichel and Theodore, the Knights had their chances. They crashed the net and forced Allen to make tough saves.

They couldn’t get going on the power play, though. Entries weren’t clean, and there was no rhythm cycling around the offensive zone.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin replaced right wing Braeden Bowman on the man advantage, going back to a traditional four-forward, one-defenseman look, and it seemed formidable.

Dorofeyev’s goal capped off a 1-for-4 outing on the power play.

Knights’ missed chances

The Knights had a chance to end it on their fourth try with a power play in the final 1:53 of the extra period, but Mitch Marner and Mark Stone each hit a post.

Stone’s jam attempt hit the far post, and the puck sat at the edge of the crease.

Allen stopped all 25 shots he faced through two periods.

The Devils struck first on the back of their goaltender’s play. Devils right wing Connor Brown converted off a turnover from Hanifin and beat Hart with a power move at 4:50 of the second for a 1-0 New Jersey lead.

Both goaltenders made saves to give their team a chance. The only one Hart couldn’t stop in the shootout was a nifty backhand move by Bratt.

Marner’s tying attempt in the final round was pokechecked by Allen then kicked in by Marner, but the referee waived off the goal.

It’s the 14th time the Knights have gone beyond regulation, but their 10 overtime/shootout losses are tops in the league.

“We’d like to be winning those games in regulation,” McNabb said. “It’s been weird that way, but we’re in games, we’re in close games.

“A lot of good adversity that’s going to go a long ways in a playoff run.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.