Golden Knights can’t rally from 3-goal hole, lose to Penguins
The first two Golden Knights games of 2020 featured everything from an unsuccessful penalty shot to coach Gerard Gallant abruptly leaving his postgame news conference to the greatest comeback in franchise history.
Tuesday’s affair didn’t feature the same kind of fireworks, but it was historic nonetheless.
The Knights stumbled out of the starting blocks and lost 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins at T-Mobile Arena despite allowing just 16 shots on goal.
It’s the fewest shots on goal the Knights have allowed in a loss. The previous low was 17 in a 4-2 loss at Buffalo on Oct. 8, 2018.
“We were sleeping there for a couple minutes early and a couple minutes in the third, and that’s the difference in the game,” Paul Stastny said. “That’s two games in a row now. We have to be ready to come out and play at home. We can’t just rely on our record at home or using the crowd.”
Reilly Smith scored with 7:15 remaining, and the Knights had a late power play but were unable to rally from a three-goal deficit.
Max Pacioretty notched his team-leading 19th goal, and Stastny also scored for the Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 12 saves against his former club.
The Knights saw their four-game winning streak end and fell into a tie in points with Arizona for first place in the Pacific Division.
Dominik Kahun had a goal and an assist, and defenseman Kris Letang added two assists for Pittsburgh.
Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist put the Penguins ahead 2-0 after the first period, and Brandon Tanev added a goal at 2:15 of the third that stood up as the game-winner.
“We had some opportunities to score goals, but we can’t allow four and expect to win a hockey game,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “Back-to-back games getting behind, you’re pressing your luck when you’re trying to beat pretty good hockey teams when it’s 3-0 both games.”
Here’s what stood out from the loss:
1. Fatigued Fleury?
Fleury made his fifth straight start but was outdueled by Penguins counterpart Tristan Jarry, who was named to his first NHL All-Star Game on Tuesday.
Fleury has allowed four or more goals in 13 of his 29 starts, including his past three straight. By comparison, he allowed four or more goals 16 times in 61 starts last season.
Since Fleury returned from his personal leave after the death of his father, he is 7-3-1 with a 3.37 goals-against average and .886 save percentage.
“For my part, I feel like I let the guys down,” Fleury said. “I let too many goals in on not many shots. Can’t happen.”
2. Juggling lines
Jonathan Marchessault (lower body) was scratched for the third consecutive game, and center Cody Eakin returned after missing 17 games, forcing Gallant to shake up his lines.
Chandler Stephenson, who scored five goals in his first 16 appearances with the Knights, earned a promotion to the first line in Marchessault’s spot at left wing.
Stastny returned to his previous role as second-line center between Pacioretty and Mark Stone, while Eakin centered the third line.
The Pacioretty-Stastny-Stone line was the Knights’ most effective, combining for two goals and 15 shots on goal. Pacioretty finished with nine shots.
“We’ve had success in the past, so we kind of picked up where we left off,” Pacioretty said. “There were opportunities there for us to tie up that game, we just weren’t able to convert.”
3. Schmidt struggles
Defenseman Nate Schmidt had a first period to forget and was on the ice for Pittsburgh’s first three goals.
On the first one in the first period, Schmidt tried to fire a pass up the middle that Malkin intercepted, and Malkin eventually cleaned up a rebound in front of Fleury.
About four minutes later, Schmidt was late picking up Hornqvist off a faceoff and couldn’t prevent the Penguins forward from stuffing in a rebound.
Schmidt has been on the Knights’ shutdown defense pairing for two-plus seasons, but it might be time to give Shea Theodore a look in that spot.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
