Blog: Celebratory Nevada Day game fails to right Golden Knights

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 | 2 p.m.

Updated Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 | 5:47 p.m.

A festive afternoon turned into a frustrating evening for majority of the 18,207 fans who filled T-Mobile Arena for the Vegas Golden Nights’ Nevada Day matinee against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They arrived decked out in white, as per the team’s request, and created a raucous environment. They exited with less vigor after the home team dropped its second straight game.

Lightning 3, Golden Knights 2.

Vegas’ record falls to 4-5-1, and it will now need to defeat Ottawa at 5 p.m. on Sunday to salvage a winning record for its season-long five-game home stand. The Golden Knights gave the Stanley Cup-favorite Lightning a spirited effort for much of the game, but were too often trying to fight out of a hole.

They struggled to contain the Lightning’s considerable star power. Tampa Bay first scored three minutes into the game, when Tyler Johnson put a loose puck past Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Golden Knights answered with their first goal of the season from a defenseman, a slap shot from the blue line by Shea Theodore to make the score 1-1. The deadlock lasted 11 minutes until Tampa Bay’s superstars, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, set up first-line center Brayden Point for a goal.

It was an exciting first period that kept the atmosphere lively — until the Lightning scored again early in the second period. On a power play, J.T. Miller tipped in a shot from Mikhail Sergachev.

Tampa Bay went 1-for-2 on the power play, while Vegas was 1-for-4. The Golden Knights got back into the game when William Karlsson scored in the opening two minutes of the third period.

Although they bombarded Andrei Vasilevskiy from there, Tampa’s goalie was up to the task. He notched 29 saves, a touch better than Fleury’s 20 stops.

Check back to lasvegasssun.com later for more coverage.

Lightning lead Golden Knights 3-1 at second intermission

The first period between Tampa Bay and Vegas was competitive throughout. The second period was not.

The Lightning dominated the action at T-Mobile Arena, and bring a 3-1 lead to the locker room with 20 minutes left to play. The Lightning scored on a power play, with J.T. Miller tipping a puck past Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Golden Knights challenged for offsides, but after a long review, the goal was upheld. It was an extremely close call that went against the Golden Knights, a fitting occurrence for a game that appears to have spiraled against them.

Vegas’ best chance to score came when Colin Miller found himself on a breakaway, but Braydon Coburn tripped him. Coburn received a tripping call, but Miller didn’t get the penalty shot the crowd felt he deserved, and Vegas’ power play failed to score for the third time of the game.

Vegas is now 2-for-31 on the year on the power play.

Golden Knights trail Lighting 2-1 after first period

The thousands of fans wearing white for Nevada Day got the exciting start they hoped for at T-Mobile Arena — just not with the team they wanted in front.

The Vegas Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning each had their chances in the annual matinee game, but the latter cashed in on more of them. One more of them, at least.

Centers Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point scored goals for the Lightning. Johnson’s first goal of the game was somewhat of a lucky bounce, as he was in the right place at the right time when a puck deflected towards him.

With Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury facing the other direction, Johnson was able to knock a shot into a mostly-empty net. Point’s score was a little prettier, as stars Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos set it up with a pair of perfect passes.

Vegas did score in between the two Tampa Bay goals to make the game 1-1, with Shea Theodore rocketing a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy from the blue line off of a pass from Ryan Carpenter.

Vegas went 0-for-2 on the power play, but put up 12 shots on goal to Tampa Bay’s six.

Pre-game

The Vegas Golden Knights set a high bar in the inaugural version of a game they hope becomes an annual tradition.

One of their finest performances last year came in the Nevada Day matinee, as the Golden Knights demolished the Avalanche 7-0. They’d be happy with a performance anywhere near as strong when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at 3 p.m. this afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.

“Probably not gonna be 7-0 against Tampa,” Vegas’ leading goal-scorer Jonathan Marchessault laughed pregame.

Many hailed Tampa Bay as the top team in the NHL coming into the season, and it’s done nothing to dissuade the praise. The Lightning are 6-1-1 through their first eight games, and favored to win the Stanley Cup Final in local sports books.

That contrasts with the Golden Knights, which haven’t shown anything close to the firepower that led to the scoring explosion a year ago. Vegas is getting plenty of shots, but has averaged only 2.2 goals per game.

It’s coming off of a major upset loss to the Vancouver Canucks, which prevailed 3-2 in a shootout, that Marchessault described as unacceptable. Marchessault’s linemate, William Karlsson, believes an afternoon game is exactly what could get the Golden Knights back on track.

“I like these games,” Karlsson said. “Get up, have a little brunch and come to the rink and play. I wish we had more of these games.”

Karlsson has the only two hat tricks in franchise history, and both came in mid-day start times last season. If feeding off the environment was part of his success, Karlsson should have a chance to repeat this afternoon.

T-Mobile Arena is expected to be sold out as usual, but fans are additionally being asked to dress in all white to match the Golden Knights wearing their road jerseys.

Vegas Coach Gerard Gallant is never much for pageantry, but he’s all for whatever can bring the best out of his team.

“They’re a great hockey team over there and you like to play well in these big games but I like to play well in every game,” he said.

Keefer’s Prediction: Golden Knights 4, Lightning 3

Season record for predictions: 3-3

Pick to score the Golden Knights’ first goal: Max Pacioretty

Season record for first goal scored: 1-for-6

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

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-110, Canucks plus-110; over/under: 5.5 (minus-120, plus-110)

Golden Knights (4-4-1) (2-1-1 home)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Goals leader: Jonathan Marchessault (5)

Assists leader: William Karlsson (6)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.36 gaa, .904 save percentage)

Tampa Bay Lightning (6-1-1) (2-0-1 road)

Coach: Jon Cooper (seventh season)

Goals leader: Brayden Point (5)

Assists leader: J.T. Miller (6)

Expected goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy (1.80 gaa, .941 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected game day roster

Forwards (12): Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, William Carrier, Ryan Carpenter, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Oscar Lindberg, Jonathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Reaves, Reilly Smith, Alex Tuch

Defensemen (6): Deryk Engelland, Nick Holden, Brayden McNabb, John Merrill, Colin Miller, Shea Theodore

Goalies (2): Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.