Max Pacioretty’s hat trick not enough as Golden Knights fall to Blues in shootout

By Justin Emerson

Published Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021 | 8:55 p.m.

The Golden Knights and St. Louis Blues are seemingly incapable of playing a normal hockey game.

The latest example was Tuesday's outing at T-Mobile Arena, a wild 60 minutes followed by a wild five of overtime and even that wasn't enough. To a shootout it went, and that's where Vegas came up just short.

Max Pacioretty recorded a hat trick for the Golden Knights, the third goal tying the game and helping Vegas get one point out of the night. once it reached the shootout, the Blues finished off a 5-4 victory with a 2-1 win in a three-round shootout.

Pacioretty and Mark Stone were on their game all night, connecting for three goals. Pacioretty's third came with 3:25 in regulation, tying the game on Vegas' 40th shot of the game. It was assisted by Stone, who had three helpers on the night.

Pacioretty's three goals gave him a team-best six this season, and Stone upped his team-leading assists total to nine and point total to 11.

Down 4-2 entering the third, Vegas found its game, outshooting the Blues 13-4 in the final 20 minutes. They finally cracked the Blues' power play on their sixth try, with Pacioretty netting his second of the game in the third period. It came as Vegas had a two-man advantage, the team's first 5-on-3 goal of the season.

The Knights finished with a season-high 43 shots on goal, and allowed 23.

Vegas scored first in the game, a Tuch wrister 3:17 into the game, but the Blues answered with three of their own in the first period. David Perron had two and Jaden Schwartz had one, turning the Blues' 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead in just seven minutes and seven shots.

The Golden Knights got one back in the second, Pacioretty's first of the game, but the Blues responded with a Jordan Kyrou partial breakaway to give them a 4-2 lead after two periods.

Vegas and St. Louis will play again at 6 p.m. Thursday at T-Mobile Arena.

Golden Knights down 2 after 2 vs. Blues

For most of the first two periods, the Golden Knights controlled play in the offensive zone and fired shot after shot on goal. Through those two periods, the Golden Knights continued to trail.

Vegas and the St. Louis Blues each scored in the second period, maintaining the Blues' two-goal lead and sending Tuesday's game at T-Mobile Arena to the second intermission with the Knights in a 4-2 hole.

Some nifty work down low set up the Golden Knights' second goal of the game. Alec Martinez shuffled the puck around the boards, where Mark Stone grabbed it and found Max Pacioretty in front. Pacioretty does what he does bets, connecting on his fourth of the season at 1:42 of the second.

Just like the last Vegas goal, St. Louis had an answer. Pacioretty was hunting for another goal but instead found the post. As the ping sound carried through the empty arena, and Jordan Kyrou got on his horse. The Blues forward outraced Alex Pietrangelo in the neutral zone, collected the puck and top-shelf on Robin Lehner to give St. Louis a 4-2 lead.

It killed the momentum Vegas had built throughout the period, and some frustration looked like it bubbled over. Mark Stone took an interference penalty in the middle of the ice a few minutes later, and after the Blues had some choice words for Stone, he and Justin Faulk fought when Stone came out of the box.

The Golden Knights led 11-9 in shots for the period, giving them a 28-17 lead for the game.

Hot start doesn't hold up as Golden Knights trail Blues

The Golden Knights scored early to take the lead Tuesday. The rest of the first period, they'd rather forget.

Vegas scored first but gave up the next three goals to the St. Louis Blues and trailed 3-1 after the first period at T-Mobile Arena.

It didn't take long to get things going. The Blues had a tremendous opportunity on the first shift of the game, but Robin Lehner denied Oscar Sundqvist on a 1-on-1 look.

Then just past the three-minute mark, the goals started coming. Alex Tuch showed off a flash of speed to collect the puck in the middle of the ice and entered the attacking zone in a 2-on-1 with Nicolas Roy. He was thinking shoot all the way though, and sniped it from the right wing at 3:17 for a 1-0 lead.

The Blues answered with a quick one of their own, forcing a turnover behind the Vegas net. Ryan O'Reilly intercepted an Alec Martinez pass and fed former Golden Knight David Perron, who snuck the puck by Lehner 51 seconds after Tuch's goal.

Perron wasn't done. Just six seconds after a too-many-men penalty to Vegas, Perron teed up a blast form the point to make it 2-1. The flurry continued at the 10:10 mark when Jaden Schwartz ripped one high past Lehner. Through the Blues' first seven shots, they had three goals.

It wasn't a bad offensive period by the Golden Knights, and they led in shots on goal 17-8 after one period.

Golden Knights coaches out vs. Blues, GM McCrimmon to coach

It was only a matter of time before COVID-19 protocols impacted a Golden Knights game.

The Golden Knights announced this afternoon that the coaching staff will not be behind the bench for tonight's 6 p.m. puck drop against the St. Blues in order to comply with league virus protocols. General manager Kelly McCrimmon will serve as head coach tonight, alongside coaches from the Henderson Silver Knights.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the coaching staff will be self-isolating for Tuesday night's game against the Blues due to COVID-19 protocols," the team said in a statement. "Kelly McCrimmon will be behind the bench Tuesday along with members of the Silver Knights staff."

Vegas had avoided all game-related issues with the virus to this point, including taking a road trip to Arizona this weekend.

All 20 expected players were on the ice for warmups. Silver Knights head coach Manny Viveiros and assistants Joel Ward and Jamie Heward were on staff for Tuesday's game.

McCrimmon has never coached in the NHL, though he was a longtime coach of the Western Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings before joining Vegas in 2016.

Golden Knights' Pietrangelo eager to face former team

Alex Pietrangelo knew this day would come. He just didn’t think it would come like this.

The Golden Knights defenseman will face his former team at 6 p.m. when Vegas hosts the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena. A former Blues captain, Pietrangelo helped St. Louis win its first Stanley Cup in 2019.

Because of the realignment, the Golden Knights and Blues are not only in the same conference but the same division, and will meet eight times this year starting tonight.

“I’ve been joking that I guess if you’re going to do it, might as well do it eight times in a year and get past it,” Pietrangelo said. “I feel good, feel comfortable about it, ready to kind of get it over with so the season can move forward.”

Vegas and St. Louis will also play at 6 p.m. Thursday at T-Mobile Arena. Pietrangelo won’t make his return to St. Louis until mid-March.

Pietrangelo has played six games in Vegas, and some adjustment was expected after spending 12 years with the Blues organization. He has a goal, two assists and leads in average time on ice by a large margin (25:04, and the next closest is 22:46).

“I’m sure there’s a lot of emotions going through his world the first games back against his former team,” Vegas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think he’s adjusted faster than most players. I thought last game was arguably his best so far. World-class player.”

In Vegas' inaugural season, one of the big storylines was the “revenge games” against other teams. Marc-Andre Fleury playing the Penguins for the first time was a big deal, as were so many others.

Pietrangelo’s situation is different, of course. He signed here as a free agent, choosing to come to Vegas instead of being drafted here. But it doesn’t mean the Golden Knights don’t want to win this one against the Blues any less for him.

“To play for a guy like (Pietrangelo), who comes in here and is right away a leader in the locker room, he’s a great guy to be around, really easy-going, and you want to win for guys like that,” Knights forward Alex Tuch said. “Him and also we got (forward Ryan Reaves) who played there for several years too, so we never forget about that. Yeah, it will be a good matchup.”

Reaves played parts of seven seasons with the Blues to begin his career, and was teammates with Pietrangelo from 2010-17.

Pietrangelo spent most of his adult life in St. Louis. His wife is from there and his three kids were all born there. He said it was odd packing up and moving to Las Vegas. St. Louis means a lot to him.

The Blues surely mean a lot to him too, but tonight they’re another hockey team in the Golden Knights’ way.

“Obviously off the ice you’re friends and you enjoy those moments together, but on the ice they’re trying to win the game and so am I,” Pietrangelo said. “There will be some good battles and I’m looking forward to it.”

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Betting line: Golden Knights minus-155, Blues plus-135; over/under: 6 (plus-110, minus-130)

Golden Knights (5-1-0, 10 points; 1st place, West Division)

Coach: Peter DeBoer (second season)

Points leader: Mark Stone (8)

Goals leader: Max Pacioretty, Shea Theodore (3)

Assists leader: Mark Stone (8)

Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (2.68 GAA, .899 save percentage)

Blues (3-2-1, 7 points; 3rd place, West Division)

Coach: Craig Berube (third season)

Points leaders: Jordan Kyrou (6)

Goals leader: Brayden Schenn (4)

Assists leader: Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas (4)

Expected goalie: Jordan Binnington (2.53 GAA, .913 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Max Pacioretty—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Alex Tuch—Nicolas Roy—Keegan Kolesar

William Carrier—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Alex Pietrangelo

Alec Martinez—Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague—Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Robin Lehner, Marc-André Fleury