Robin Lehner works to get timing back after concussion

Robin Lehner gave himself a passing grade for his first start in five weeks.

The Golden Knights goalie stopped 23 of 25 shots in a 4-2 victory over Los Angeles on Friday at Staples Center, his first appearance since he sustained a concussion Feb. 11.

“It felt OK. I felt like it went a little bit better as the game went on,” Lehner said Saturday. “It always takes a little bit of time.”

Lehner noted the lack of practice time during the condensed schedule makes it tougher to regain his timing and adjust to facing NHL shooters again. He practiced with the Silver Knights during a conditioning loan to the minor league club and had two morning skates with the Golden Knights to get ready for his first start since Feb. 7.

On Los Angeles’ first goal, Lehner gave up a rebound on Anze Kopitar’s shot from right wing that Alex Iafallo knocked home late in the opening period. He was beaten on a deflection by Trevor Moore in the second period but tightened up from there.

During one third-period sequence, Lehner did a decent Marc-Andre Fleury imitation when he scrambled to keep the puck out with Jeff Carter and Andreas Athanasiou lurking around the net.

“I think the details of the game is what takes a little bit of time with the angles and not being too aggressive,” Lehner said. “But I’m working hard to try to get back to where I need to be as soon as possible.”

Rad Max

To give a sense of Max Pacioretty’s production over the first half of the season, he is on pace for 32 goals after collecting his fourth multigoal game Friday. That works out to a 47-goal pace for a full 82-game season.

Pacioretty’s career high in goals is 39 set in 2013-14.

The left wing is on a five-game point streak (four goals, five assists) and has eight of his 16 goals this month. Only Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen has more in March with nine.

Pacioretty also is four goals shy of 300 in his NHL career and would become the 23rd American to reach that mark.

“Goal scorers are rare,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “What I love about Patch is, for me, he’s starting to add some more layers to his game away from the puck. Making plays to other guys. He’s not simply one-dimensional.”

False positive

While there was some uncertainty about William Karlsson’s status leading up to Friday’s game after he was briefly listed on the NHL’s COVID protocol-related absence list, his teammates suspected the test result was a false positive.

And while a pandemic isn’t necessarily something to joke about, Karlsson’s late arrival after being cleared to play led to a bit of dark humor, according to winger Jonathan Marchessault.

“He literally showed up just before warmup and it was pretty funny. Everybody was so happy, like, ‘Oh you beat COVID in a couple hours,’” Marchessault said. “It was kind of a little running gag.”

Battles in front

The Knights’ final two goals Friday came on deflections in front of the net, while Los Angeles wasn’t able to get much traffic around Lehner’s crease in the third period.

After Kings coach Todd McLellan praised the Knights’ effort to protect the house during his postgame comments, DeBoer expects that to be an emphasis when the teams meet Sunday to close the two-game series.

“Again, you get to this point in the year, it starts to feel more like playoff hockey, and playoff hockey is usually won or lost in the trenches and in a lot of those areas,” DeBoer said. “You’re going to see a lot of focus I think from coaches on both teams about those areas.”

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