Lynne Sladky / Associated Press
Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) and Vegas Golden Knights center Chandler Stephenson (20) go for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in Sunrise, Fla.
Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022 | 9:25 p.m.
The red light behind the home goal was the first to light up in Sunrise, Fla., on Thursday night, typically a good sign for the Golden Knights, who are so good when scoring first.
The problem is, that was the only time it lit up.
Vegas had plenty of chances the rest of the night, but couldn’t convert, and fell to the Eastern Conference-leading Florida Panthers 4-1 at FLA Live Arena.
“I saw a lot of effort and a little bit of a lack of execution at the end,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “Just a little bit of plays we would normally finish off, we were just off a little bit.”
The Golden Knights entered the night 18-7-1 when scoring first and defend a lead as well as any team in the league. Zach Whitecloud gave them that lead with a nasty wrister 7:51 into the game, his sixth goal of the season.
When Vegas takes that lead into the second period, its record is 12-3-1, and the Golden Knights were 29 seconds away from doing just that before a bit of an odd sequence.
Chandler Stephenson blocked a shot in the Vegas zone, which allowed Mark Stone to attempt a break the other way. But he got tangled with Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe — Stone thought he should have been awarded a penalty shot — and Vegas was awarded a power play on a holding minor.
It put an aggressive Florida penalty kill get to work, and it capitalized. Captain and defending Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov took the puck away at center ice, then drifted to the far side of the attacking zone to receive the pass back from Anton Lundell and one-time it into the net.
Bolstered with confidence of a 1-1 tie instead of a 1-0 deficit to start the second, the Panthers struck quickly again when Sam Bennett went nearly coast-to-coast and deposited the puck into the net putting Florida on top 1:18 into the second.
And once you go to the third period trailing the Panthers, it’s basically over. Florida improved to 22-0-0 when leading after two, including 16-0-0 at home. The Panthers scored two empty-net goals, making the final score less indicative how close a game it was.
“As a team I thought we played pretty fast, there were just some mistakes that kind of cost us,” Vegas forward Reilly Smith said. “They gave us enough chances off turnovers and odd-man rushes, we just didn’t find good bounces and weren’t able to capitalize and execute on them.”
The Golden Knights had their chances in the third period but never found the net again. William Karlsson had two rush opportunities on the same shift, and about midway through the period Stone missed a beautiful chance from in close.
But all those chances weren’t close enough to becoming goals. Despite 15 shot attempts in the third period, only five were on goal.
“I thought we had a lot of really good looks but obviously those didn’t go in,” Whitecloud said.
The good news is the Golden Knights were as healthy as they’ve been all season. Smith (COVID-19 protocols) and Max Pacioretty (wrist injury) both returned, joining Nicolas Hague who re-entered the lineup on Monday in Washington.
For the first time since opening night, DeBoer had lineup decision to make. Pacioretty’s return moved William Carrier, who had been playing on the top line, back to the fourth, where he joined Keegan Kolesar, who had established himself on the third line.
Brett Howden, Michael Amadio and Ben Hutton, lineup mainstays over the past few months, were all healthy scratches.
“We haven’t been in this place all year it feels like, so it’s nice to be in that place,” DeBoer said. “Hopefully we can stay healthy and continue to have these tough decisions.”
That’s what the Golden Knights want.
They still have Alec Martinez close to a return, then there’s the eventual debut of Jack Eichel somewhere on the horizon. Despite scoring just once in two of their three games this road trip, the Golden Knights are progressing, and a 1-1-1 record against three of the best teams in the league is nothing to sneeze at.
With a mostly healthy roster, the Golden Knights hung tight with the Panthers, who halfway through the season look like one of the best teams in the league. As they progress and return to health, Vegas expects to be there too.
Tonight was a good measure of where the Golden Knights are with most of their team intact. They came up short, but played well, which is encouraging for what Vegas is and can become as the season goes on.
