Golden Knights lose first game, 6-3 to Red Wings
The Golden Knights truly looked like an expansion team for the first time. At least in the third period.
Not surprisingly, they lost for the first time. Frans Nielsen broke a third-period tie, and the Detroit Red Wings rallied for a 6-3 win Friday night at T-Mobile Arena before an announced crowd 17,648.
“We played a solid 40 minutes, but we made too many mistakes in the third period,” said Knights forward James Neal, who scored his sixth goal of the season. “We knew what to expect. They’re a good team.”
With the score 3-3, Nielsen worked a picture-perfect two-on-one with Henrik Zetterberg after Nielsen had just returned from serving an interference penalty.
The goal, which came at 12:58, helped cap the Red Wings’ comeback after Erik Haula had put the Knights ahead 3-2 late in the second period when he redirected Luca Sbisa’s shot from the point.
Anthony Mantha took a pass from Zetterberg in the slot and beat Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the score 3-3 4:42 into the third period and eventually set the stage for Nielsen’s heroics. Detroit (4-1) also got two goals from Gustav Nyquist and single tallies from Zetterberg, who had a four-point night, and Luke Glendenning.
The Knights (3-1) had 11 giveaways, and defenseman Nate Schmidt said that’s too many against a good team.
“It was more of us not taking care of the puck in our own end,” Schmidt said. “We kind of hung Flower (Fleury) out to dry.”
Some good things came out of the loss. Jonathan Marchessault finally scored, as he and Reilly Smith worked a nice setup with Smith feeding Marchessault cross-ice and Marchessault beating Petr Mrazek 8:12 into the second period to tie the score 1-1.
Haula’s first goal of the season was also a positive, as he was working hard at both ends of the ice.
The Knights had managed to regain control entering the third period, as Neal and Haula scored 1:27 apart late in the second for a 3-2 lead.
But with Zetterberg leading the way and Mantha causing problems with his 6-foot-5-inch, 220-pound frame, the Red Wings scored four consecutive goals in the final 20 minutes.
“We had a real tough third period,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “We were the better team in the second period, but we stumbled in the third. We didn’t have the same jump in the third period, and it was disappointing.
“We had a lot of turnovers at the offensive blue line. We were trying to do too much. They’re a pretty skilled team, and they took advantage of the opportunities.”
Haula also participated in the first fight by a Golden Knights player, squaring off with Tomas Tatar in the third period.
Neal said it’s important to hit the reset button for Sunday’s 4 p.m. home game against Boston.
“We’ll adjust. We’ll learn, and we’ll regroup and get ready for Sunday,” he said.
Gallant said it’s still about playing 60 minutes.
“You can’t play 40 minutes in this league and win, especially against a good team like Detroit,” he said.
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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
Three takeaways from Friday's game
1. Too many turnovers. The Golden Knights were sloppy in their own end and the neutral zone, and the Red Wings capitalized for each of their goals. The defense particularly had trouble controlling the puck, and it proved to be the Knights' downfall.
2. Henrik Zetterberg is still good, even at age 37. The Red Wings veteran center had a hand in four goals. He's so smart with the puck and knows how to find his teammates, and it was a big part of Detroit's win.
3. Hit the net. The Knights scored three goals, but they missed out on some great chances because they couldn't hit the net. William Karlsson had two chances. So did Brendan Leipsic and Reilly Smith. Cody Eakin, too. All were denied because they shot wide.
— Steve Carp/Review-Journal
