Mary Altaffer / AP
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson makes the save against the New Jersey Devils during the second period Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Newark, N.J.
Published Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 | 7:19 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 | 9:43 p.m.
Hard on himself for wanting to be the best goalie he can, Logan Thompson took the blame for how the Golden Knights turned a late one-goal lead into a loss.
This night wasn't on him, though.
The Golden Knights' goalie made one tremendous save after another, keeping the high-powered New Jersey Devils off the board for the bulk of 58 minutes. But a couple of bounces off his own teammates found their way past Thompson, ruining what would've been his most stellar performance of the season in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday.
New Jersey defenseman Dougie Hamilton, with goalie Vitek Vanecek pulled for the extra attacker trailing 2-1, let a shot go from near the right wall. The puck bounced off Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb and trickled past Thompson to tie it with 1:10 remaining in regulation.
In the overtime period, Hamilton followed that with a one-timer from the high slot on a New Jersey power play — defenseman Ben Hutton was called for tripping behind the Vegas net — and beat Thompson clean for the game-winner.
Tack on the very first goal of the game four minutes in, when Devils forward Ondrej Palat's shot bounced off Kaedan Korczak's stick and knuckled its way past Thompson, it was a bad beat of a night for the All-Star goalie.
"That's on me," said Thompson, who finished with 35 saves. "I've got to be better. It's unacceptable. I haven't been good in the last 10 games. I've got to start playing winning hockey. That's what I'm here to do, and I haven't done that."
Yes, numbers-wise, Thompson in recent memory hasn't been what he was to begin the year. Not many goalies can say they started the year 11-3-0 and were the clear runaway leader in the Calder Trophy race.
Since that blistering 14-game start, Thompson has gone 8-10-2 in his next 20 starts. Narrowing it down to the last 10, he's 3-5-2 with a .903 save percentage.
"I can make the save on all those goals," Thompson said. "It's pretty unacceptable, and I've got to be better."
But this one, a game where the Golden Knights (29-17-3) were one minute away from knocking off one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference in their arena — in regulation — was not on Thompson.
"I liked his game a lot," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "He was in control. It was tough luck for him. He deserved better."
This loss isn't even on the entirety of the Golden Knights, who have dropped to 1-4-1 in their last six games with two more before the All-Star break.
Anchored by Thompson's brilliance, the Golden Knights stayed in the game. Even for a team in need of having some bounces go their way — and it didn't appear that way after Palat's goal — Vegas kept pushing.
If not for Thompson holding down the fort and stopping all but one of 15 shots in the opening 20 minutes, it could have gone worse with the way the Devils impact the game with their speed.
Hutton tied it 1-1 at 12 minutes of the second period when he picked the corner from the left faceoff dot, the defenseman's second goal of the season.
Just under three minutes later, after one of Thompson's many sequences of difficult saves, William Karlsson gave Vegas the lead off a counterattack from the Misfit Line at 14:51 of the period.
"He had a really good game. He made some huge saves to keep us in the lead," Karlsson said.
Only in victory are the goalie's performances remembered, unless special circumstances say it should be acknowledged.
This one ultimately won't be remembered as the springboard the Golden Knights were hoping for. Instead, it's viewed as a squandered opportunity for the Golden Knights against one of the top teams in the NHL.
"I thought we played a responsible hockey game tonight," Cassidy said. "Guys were trying to play the right way, but unfortunately two went off our own guys and went in the net. We weren't able to overcome that."
Thompson will get another chance to, if he feels, redeem himself before he heads to Sunrise, Fla., for the All-Star Game on Feb. 4. If the Golden Knights get that level of goaltending again, they will be in position to finish this week strong.
Tuesday just showed that hockey will forever remain a game of bounces, and sometimes not in a good way.
"I'm trying everything," Thompson said. "Hopefully I'll turn this around on this road trip, but not a good start by me."
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
