Golden Knights allow season-high 47 shots in loss to Canadiens

By Justin Emerson

Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018 | 4:51 p.m.

The Golden Knights probably kept Saturday's game against the Montreal Canadiens closer than it should have been.

Still, Vegas had a chance to win. One minute, the 18,173 at T-Mobile Arena were ready to celebrate a two-goal game from Brandon Pirri and a season-high day in saves for Marc-Andre Fleury.

The next, the Canadiens tied the game with 1:25 left, and won it 1:59 into overtime. Suddenly the Golden Knights were lamenting a 4-3 loss and giving blunt answers as to why that was.

“They had 45 shots,” Pirri said simply.

He was close. The Canadiens had 47 shots on goal, the most the Golden Knights had allowed in a game all year. They gave up 17 in the first period, 14 in the second, 15 in the third and just the one in overtime.

It masked what has been a tremendous start for Pirri. He scored twice, his third goal in two games since getting his call-up from the AHL. He has played in six games and has scored in all of them, with two goals in three of those games. But when the team loses, it's tough to bask in personal accolades.

“You’d probably trade two goals for two points,” Pirri said.

It also masked a terrific game from Fleury. The Vegas goaltender made a season-best 43 saves following what had been a rough stretch for him. Coming into Thursday, he has posted an unsightly .898 save percentage over his last 11 games with a 3.00 goals-against average.

He was particularly upset about Montreal’s second goal. Phillip Danault tipped in a Jordie Benn shot, but it looked like Danault’s stick was high enough to wave the goal off. Video replay ruled that it was not conclusive enough to overturn, and Montreal tied the game 2-2 with 11:50 left in the second period.

“It’s just mind-boggling that it’s 2018 and we can’t figure out if the puck is high or not,” Fleury said. “Anyway, doesn’t matter.”

And it’s easy to say that it wouldn’t have mattered had the Golden Knights not allowed so much push. Only for fleeting moments did it feel like the Golden Knights were in control of the game instead of watching Montreal fly.

Montreal dominated the game at 5-on-5, holding an advantage of 78-52 in shot attempts, for a Corsi-For of 60 percent. The Golden Knights have a season percentage of 54, meaning they were 14 percent worse at firing pucks on net at even strength Saturday than they have been all year. Those numbers support what the eye test hypothesized: Montreal deserved to win the game.

“It was probably the best team I’ve seen this year come into our building and play like that,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “I didn’t mind our team’s game tonight, but they were a step ahead of us all over the ice.

“I’m disappointed in losing, but I’m pretty happy with that one point.”