3 takeaways from Knights’ opener: Hat trick spoiled in shootout loss

The Golden Knights’ regular-season opener should have focused on the positives, whether it was the debut of right wing Mitch Marner, the news of center Jack Eichel’s extension or even right wing Pavel Dorofeyev’s hat trick.

But all that was wiped out by a leaky defense that cost the team a point.

The Knights were unable to hold a two-goal lead in the third period and lost 6-5 in a shootout to the Los Angeles Kings in front of an announced crowd of 18,393 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

“I thought there were some spots we were good,” Eichel said. “Give them credit, they didn’t go away. It’s frustrating to give up a two-goal lead in the third. We’ll learn from that and be better for it. But there were some things to like. Obviously, we were down a few and got back in the game. Got the lead. Just want to be able to close those out.”

Eichel buried the go-ahead goal 5:06 into the third period on a one-timer from the slot as the Knights scored four unanswered goals to overcome a 3-1 deficit. Left wing Ivan Barbashev also scored in the third period.

But Los Angeles rallied with goals by left wing Trevor Moore and defenseman Brandt Clarke in the final 8:21 of regulation to send the game to overtime.

In the shootout, Moore and Adrian Kempe scored for Los Angeles. Dorofeyev was the lone Knights player who was successful on his attempt.

The Knights fell to 7-1-1 in season openers with the only other loss coming in 2018 against Philadelphia. They had won six straight season openers and home openers.

“We mismanaged some pucks along the way that ended up in our net and that was probably the difference in the game for us not getting two points as opposed to one,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Those are things we’ll have to get better at.”

Marner, who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs during the offseason, played his first regular-season game with the Knights and skated on the top line with Eichel and Barbashev. He set up Eichel’s goal with a perfect cross-ice feed and finished with two assists in 22:48 of ice time.

Prior to Wednesday’s opener, the Knights announced they locked up Eichel to an eight-year, $108 million extension that will keep him with the team through the 2033-34 season. Eichel added three assists, and captain Mark Stone had two assists.

Dorofeyev, who led the team with 35 goals last season, scored two goals 1:42 apart late in the second period on the power play to help the Knights overcome a 3-1 deficit.

Stone found Dorofeyev camped at the back door and he converted the feed to cut the deficit to 3-2. Dorofeyev then completed the hat trick with 45.7 seconds left in the period on a similar play. Stone hit Dorofeyev below the right faceoff circle, and the winger beat Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg up high to tie the game at 3.

Dorofeyev put the Knights on the board 2:10 into the second period when he carried the puck through the neutral zone, then used Los Angeles defenseman Brian Dumoulin as a screen and appeared to catch Forsberg by surprise with a long wrist shot.

Left wing Andrei Kuzmenko and center Quinton Byfield scored in the first period for Los Angeles. The Kings went ahead 3-1 with 6:21 remaining in the second period when right wing Joel Armia’s shot deflected off left wing Jeff Malott, who was battling in front of the net with Knights defenseman Shea Theodore. It was Malott’s first NHL goal in his 15th career game.

“It’s a tough loss for us. We should have got two points,” Barbashev said. “It’s game one. We’re going to look over some stuff and move forward.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Top line erupts

The expectations for the line of Eichel, Marner and Barbashev are sky high, but the trio struggled to find chemistry in the first two periods. The best example came in the first when Marner slipped behind the Kings’ defense, but Barbashev was late delivering the puck and the breakaway chance quickly vanished.

The line showed what they were capable of in the third period.

Marner connected with Eichel off the rush to give the Knights a 4-3 lead, and Barbashev finished off a pretty passing sequence by tapping home a feed from Eichel to put the team on top 5-3.

It took a bit to get going, but the line combined for two goals and six assists and put the Knights in position to earn two points after falling behind by two goals on two occasions.

“Yeah, I think everyone is settling in. It’s the first game and there’s always some good excitement and maybe you’re not handling the puck as well as you might,” Eichel said. “I felt that at times too where you’re bobbling a few plays, but I thought as the game went on we settled in, started making plays and finding each other.”

2. New PP look

The Knights had the No. 2 power play in the NHL last season and unveiled a five-forward unit against the Kings that featured Eichel, Marner, Stone, Dorofeyev and center Tomas Hertl.

Dorofeyev was stationed in his customary spot in the right faceoff circle and scored two of his goals from that area off nearly identical passes from Stone along the goal line.

The Knights capitalized on a major penalty to Kings center Alex Turcotte for boarding in the second period. They finished 2-for-6 and produced six shots on goal with the man advantage.

“The fact he can finish from over there really makes it tough on teams to cover,” Cassidy said. “LA is very aggressive up high. They press through people above the top of the circle, above the dots. So we knew we had to get pucks down low and make quick plays two-on-one.”

3. Lauzon’s miscue

Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon missed most of the preseason with an undisclosed injury and got one game under his belt before Wednesday.

The rust was evident early as Lauzon’s turnover in the neutral zone led to Byfield’s breakaway goal that put the Kings on top 2-0 in the first period.

Lauzon is known for his physical play and can end up out of position as he hunts for hits, which happened at times in the opener. But he settled down and finished with a plus-one rating and a team-high six hits in 14:26 of ice time.

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