Blog: Golden Knights fall in OT for second-straight night

By Justin Emerson

Published Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018 | 2:49 p.m.

Updated Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018 | 7:36 p.m.

The Golden Knights and Kings played a back-and-forth game Sunday that needed overtime, and in the end Tyler Toffoli scored in the extra period to as the Golden Knights fell 4-3 at T-Mobile Arena in the final game before the Christmas break.

It was the second straight overtime game for both squads. The Golden knights lost to the Canadiens on Saturday and the Kings beat the Sharks.

The Kings finished with a 32-25 shots-on-goal advantage.

The Golden knights had a great chance to win it in regulation, with Brayden McNabb hitting the post and Oscar Lindberg nearly beating Los Angeles goalie Cal Petersen.

The Golden Knights made the most of their first power-play opportunity in the third period. Brandon Pirri slid the puck to Nate Schmidt, who rifled it on net. Ryan Reaves was there for the redirection and tied his career-high with his seventh goal of the year at 6:55 to even the game 3-3.

It was Reaves' third power-play goal of his career, all coming this season. It was Schmidt's seventh assist of the year and Pirri's first.

The Kings grabbed their first lead of the game on the power play 2:06 into the third, when Jeff Carter put home a juicy rebound off a Drew Doughty shot to make it 3-2.

All even after two

Sometimes you just need to get back with what you know.

Reilly Smith, reunited with Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson, scored his eighth of the season at 10:01 of the second period. He collected a feed from Marchessault and fired a shot under Cal Petersen's glove to give the Golden Knights the lead at 2-1.

The Kings scored their goal as the product of a Vegas turnover. Ryan Reaves whipped the puck toward the center of the ice, and Adrian Kempe intercepted and shot it on net. Michael Amadio was there to tip it past Marc-Andre Fleury to even the game at 3:32.

Los Angeles scored again at 12:52 of the second. Fleury made a couple of great saves on the power play, and as the penalty ended, Alex Iafallo beat him on the wrap-around to even the game again.

The Kings grabbed the shots-on-goal advantage, 22-17 after two periods.

Golden Knights up one after one

It was a weird goal, but the Golden Knights will take it.

Tomas Nosek appeared to bat a puck out of the air and Los Angeles goalie Cal Petersen lost sight of it. It bounced by him and somehow, it was Nosek's fourth goal of the season and it gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 10:10 of the first.

Oscar Lindberg assisted on the goal, his sixth helper of the year.

The Golden Knights led in shots on goal, 8-7.

Lineup changes

The Golden Knights tweaked their lineup, inserting Oscar Lindberg and Jon Merrill.

In their place, Ryan Carpenter and Brad Hunt drew scratches for Sunday's game against the Kings.

Marc-Andre Fleury will get the start in goal.

Pre-game

One night after losing a late lead and falling in overtime to the Canadiens, the Golden Knights take on the Los Angeles Kings in the second night of a back-to-back at 5 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

"That's the business we're in. You forget about last night whether you won or lost and you get ready for today," coach Gerard Galant said. "It's a quick turnover and we'll be ready to go tonight."

The Golden Knights will get their first look at Russian sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, who was out the last time the teams met, a 5-1 victory by the Kings. Kovalchuk returned to the states this season after signing a three-year deal with the Kings, and returned last night to score two goals including the game winner against the Sharks.

The Kings need him. Their leading scorer is Dustin Brown with nine goals, which would rank sixth on the Golden Knights. It's part of the reason the Kings have the worst record in the league, but the Golden Knights are not overlooking their I-15 rivals.

"They're a good team, they have been for years, even if their record is not showing it right now," defenseman Deryk Engelland said. "Their last game, they played their game well against us in LA and we gotta respond to that one. It's a big divisional game with a lot on the line."

Tonight could also be the 2018 home debut of goalie Malcolm Subban. Gallant would not commit to him or Marc-Andre Fleury, but hinted that Subban could get the nod. Gallant traditionally does not like to play start a goalie two days in a row. He has done it twice this year under the same circumstances as tonight — a night game after a day game — but in both instances Fleury had a relatively light workload the night before. Fleury faced 47 shots last night.

Subban allowed one goal and made 30 saves on Monday against Columbus, a 1-0 Vegas loss.

Emerson's Prediction: Golden Knights 4, Kings 1

Season record for predictions: Keefer 5-4, Emerson 4-4

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-185, Kings plus-166; over/under: 6 (plus-101, minus-111)

Golden Knights (20-15-3) (11-3-2 home)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Points leader: William Karlsson (29)

Goals leader: William Karlsson (14)

Assists leader: Reilly Smith (18)

Expected goalie: Malcolm Subban (3.49 gaa, .889 save percentage)

Los Angeles Kings (13-20-3) (5-10-2 road)

Coach: Willie Desjardins (first season)

Points leader: Anze Kopitar (22)

Goals leader: Dustin Brown (9)

Assists leader: Drew Doughty (17)

Expected goalie: Cal Petersen (2.57 gaa, .927 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected lines

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Alex Tuch

Brandon Pirri, Paul Stastny, Reilly Smith

Tomas Nosek, Cody Eakin, Ryan Carpenter

William Carrier, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt

Shea Theodore, Deryk Engelland

Nick Holden, Brad Hunt

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban