3 takeaways from Knights’ OT loss: Late penalty call proves costly

Bruce Cassidy already was not in the best mood prior to Shea Theodore getting called for a questionable penalty late in overtime.

Him mockingly clapping the officials after his defenseman didn’t get the benefit of a missed call a couple minutes prior wasn’t Cassidy’s best moment, he’d admit, but it was the cap to a frustrating few minutes.

Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov scored a power-play goal with 9.7 seconds left in the extra frame, and the Golden Knights lost 3-2 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday night.

Theodore was called for hooking in the neutral zone with 28 seconds left, giving the Wild a four-on-three opportunity with time ticking down.

There didn’t look to be much to the penalty. Theodore tried to lift right wing Matt Boldy’s stick in the neutral zone; the stick didn’t hook him, but the official made the call.

Kaprizov fired a one-timer from below the right circle 20 seconds later to send the Knights (8-4-6) to their sixth overtime loss of the season.

“The teams that are checking well usually lift sticks. That’s how you’re taught to check now is lift under the stick, not get it parallel,” Cassidy said. “You’re supposed to get it under the hands and lift it up. I’ve seen a lot more of those calls. I think it’s wrong. How else are you going to check? The stick lift is still part of the game.”

Cassidy’s anger stemmed from the officials not calling what seemed to be a hook from Boldy on Theodore two minutes prior.

Theodore appeared to be hooked after right wing Mitch Marner, on a partial breakaway, dropped the puck to Theodore with a wide-open net in front of him.

While an argument can be made Marner shouldn’t have passed up the chance, no call was made.

“I knew the goalie would follow me across,” Marner said. “I don’t think I could’ve cut back. Maybe I could’ve tried something else, but that was the play all day.”

The lack of consistency in the calls was the bigger problem.

“I just thought the Theodore play Marner made for him was as obvious as it gets for a hook,” Cassidy said. “To not call it, then to call Theo, I’m disappointed. Put it that way.”

The Knights went 2-for-4 on the power play to force another five minutes. Right wing Pavel Dorofeyev scored in the first period, and right wing Reilly Smith tied it in the third with his second goal in three games.

Goaltender Carl Lindbom made 24 saves to drop to 0-3-2 in his first five NHL starts. The Knights were playing the second leg of a back-to-back after defeating the St. Louis Blues 4-1 at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

“It’s great to see no quit, especially on a back-to-back,” Marner said. “It’s a hard team to play against.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Tough goals to give up

Lindbom has shown flashes that he’ll stake a claim to be the Knights’ goaltender of the future, but the 22-year-old is still going through growing pains.

The two goals he gave up in regulation were a sign of that. Lindbom was well out of his crease by the time center Joel Eriksson Ek fired a one-timer from the left circle at 4:49 of the first.

He appeared to make the initial stop on center Yakov Trenin’s wraparound at 9:05 of the second, but it squeaked through his pads and trickled by to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

Lindbom did enough to give his teammates a chance once again, but not enough for the elusive first win.

“He made a lot of big saves for us to keep that game where it needed to be,” Marner said. “Carl was unreal again tonight. He’s played unbelieveable every time he’s been in net. We’d like to get one of these for him, because he really deserves it. He’s really done a lot of games where we should’ve had a better outcome for him.”

2. Off night for Korczak

It was a tough night at the office for defenseman Kaedan Korczak. He was on the ice for both regulation goals. Both times he was knocked off the puck to force Minnesota’s counterattack.

He also took a hooking penalty in the second period, then exited the penalty box a minute before Trenin’s go-ahead goal.

Korczak skated with Ben Hutton on the third pairing. Hutton replaced Jeremy Lauzon, who was out with an undisclosed injury.

Both played less than 10 minutes, and Korczak had only two shifts in the third period.

3. Much-needed trip

This mini getaway was what the Knights needed after a nightmarish homestand where they secured only four of a possible 12 points.

They played one of their better games in recent memory in St. Louis on Saturday, then rallied back to earn a point against a Minnesota team they’ve gotten to know well over the past year.

The Knights defeated the Wild in six games in the first round last year. This game was more of the same from that playoff series — a tight-checking game with not a lot of room to make plays.

It was enough to earn three points this weekend. The Knights will try to build off that back home Tuesday night against the New York Rangers.

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