3 takeaways from Knights’ OT loss: Offense dries up against Kraken

Pavel Dorofeyev scored his fifth goal in three games to start the season, matching a franchise record. His Golden Knights teammates have combined for five goals in that time.

Dorofeyev came to the rescue again Saturday and helped the Knights earn a point by adding to his league-leading goal total. But it wasn’t enough to prevent a 2-1 loss in overtime to the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Jared McCann’s rebound goal with 3.8 seconds remaining in OT was the difference for the Kraken. It was the 400th career NHL point for McCann.

The Knights, who played for the third time in four days, have gone past regulation in every game to open the season and are 1-0-2. They conclude their three-game road trip Tuesday at Calgary.

“We do have to get some more guys going offensively and it’s just that time of year,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We’re not clicking offensively as well as we typically could through the neutral zone, again some plays we left on the table that our guys normally make.”

Dorofeyev tied the game at 1 on a one-timer from the left faceoff circle at 4:11 of the third period off a pass from captain Mark Stone. It was Dorofeyev’s fourth power-play goal, though his previous three came from the right faceoff circle.

“He found his new office on the other side tonight,” center Colton Sissons said.

Dorofeyev, who led the Knights in goals last season, tied James Neal (2017-18) as the only Knights player with five goals in the team’s first three games.

“I’m just trying to simplify the game as much as I can,” Dorofeyev said. “When I see the opportunity to take shots on net, I just take it and go from there.”

Matty Beniers scored on a power play in the second period for Seattle after Jordan Eberle made a centering pass through his legs from behind the net. Joey Daccord finished with 26 stops to help the Kraken move to 2-0.

“We just need to be a little bit more urgent,” Sissons said. “It’s not always going to be a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal. Sometimes you’ve just got to get pucks to dirty areas and win battles and find pucks. I think we’ve got to do a little more of that.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Plan B

Cassidy has never been afraid to juggle his forward lines, and it took three games for him to separate stars Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner in search of a spark.

During the second period, Stone moved to the right wing with Eichel and left wing Ivan Barbashev, a combination that played together frequently last season. Marner went to the right wing with center Tomas Hertl and Dorofeyev, while William Karlsson and Reilly Smith skated with Brandon Saad.

The Knights generated 20 of their 27 shots on goal in the final two periods and overtime and held Seattle to six shots on goal in the second and third periods combined.

“Trying to shake up the team, get us going and see what happens with different lines,” Dorofeyev said.

2. Sin bin

The Knights were the least penalized team in the NHL last season, which helped to hide a penalty-killing unit that was one of the league’s worst in 2024-25 at a 75.3 percent success rate.

But their lack of discipline so far this season has been costly.

The Knights were penalized four times against Seattle and have been called for 11 penalties so far, which is tied for ninth most in the league.

They are 29th in the league at 62.5 percent (5-for-8) on the penalty kill and have allowed a power-play goal in every game this season.

3. Bouncing back

Goaltender Adin Hill started for the Knights after a shaky performance in the season opener when he allowed five goals and finished with 20 saves. He had six stops in overtime alone after facing 15 shots in regulation.

Until the extra session, Hill’s best work came at the end of the first period when he kept the puck out during a goalmouth scramble in the final minute.

In overtime, Hill made the initial stop on Beniers’ shot from the high slot in the final seconds but couldn’t control the rebound. The Knights had three forwards on the ice and no one to tie up McCann in front and prevent him from banging in the rebound.

“He gave us every chance to win,” Cassidy said. “I’m sure he feels better about his game. No one feels good about losing. Goalies want to win. But when he analyzes his game, looks at the film, he’ll see that he played I thought a really good hockey game and probably deserved better.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.