Blog: Rangers ruin Golden Knights’ return home, halt streak

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 | 12:55 p.m.

Updated Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 | 6:38 p.m.

Having won four of five while managing at least one point in the standings in each game, the Golden Knights arrived back in Las Vegas on a relative high after spending most of last week in New York.  

That will be interrupted after a 5-0 loss to the Rangers in a Sunday afternoon game at T-Mobile Arena. Much of what the Golden Knights had done well during their recent hot streak disappeared against the Rangers.

Despite Marc-Andre Fleury being available after rejoining the team, Vegas coach Gerard Gallant opted to start Malcolm Subban for the seventh straight game. And Subban finally had a subpar performance to stop what had been on a solid stretch.

He allowed five goals on 25 shots, including getting cleanly beaten by star Artemi Panarin for the Rangers' first score. Not all the goals were Subban's fault though.

Chris Kreider flew from the point and through the faceoff circle undisturbed a few seconds after Panarin's goal for the Rangers' second tally on the scoreboard. Subban was also left without much help when the defense zoned out on Jacob Trouba, who got an easy rebound goal on a second-period power-play.

The Rangers went 2-for-5 on the power play to the Golden Knights' 0-for-4. Subban was a bit slow to react on the Rangers' fourth goal when Jesper Fast lifted the puck into the top-shelf of the net in the second period.

Mika Zibanejad chipped in the Rangers' fifth goal late in the third period.

More pressing than the loss for the Golden Knights might be an injury to Cody Glass, who was helped off the ice in the second period after taking a hard hit and elbow from Brendan Lemieux. William Carrier retaliated and fought Lemieux early in the third period with both forwards landing a few blows before heading to the penalty box to serve major penalties.

The Golden Knights are back in action Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena against the Chicago Blackhawks, which defeated Vegas 5-3 last month.

Check back to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage.

Rangers lead 4-0 at end of the second period

This one has gotten away from the Golden Knights.

Barring a miracle, Vegas can bid farewell to its five-game point streak. For the second straight frame, the Rangers scored a pair of goals in close proximity to each other.

They got a power-play goal when Jacob Trouba banged home a rebound off of Ryan Strome wrister, and then about three minutes later, Jesper Fast scored from the same spot.

Golden Knights goalie Maclolm Subban has given up four goals on 19 shots. A bigger concern for the Golden Knights after the second period is the health of Cody Glass, who was helped off the ice after taking a hard check and seemingly inadvertent elbow from Brendan Lemieux.

In their first home in more than a week, it's simply not the Golden Knights' day.  

Rangers lead 2-0 at end of the first period

The Golden Knights spent almost the entire period around the Rangers' net, flinging pucks in the direction of goalie Alexander Georgiev. It didn't matter. They find themselves in a significant deficit anyway.

New York leads 2-0 after goals from Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider in a 14-second span mid-period. Panarin beat Subban through his legs while Kreider found himself on a breakaway after the ensuing faceoff.

Georgiev has 17 saves, standing tall in the face of constant Golden Knights' pressure. The Ranger have only seven shots on goal.

Pregame

The loudest Golden Knights’ games at T-Mobile Arena don’t tend to come midseason, especially not in a Sunday afternoon game.

Today’s matchup with the New York Rangers, which begins at 4 p.m., might be an exception. Marc-Andre Fleury will get a hero's welcome when he skates out onto the home ice for the first time in two weeks after taking a leave from the team following the death of his father.

Fleury rejoined the Golden Knights for Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Islanders in New York but sat on the bench as backup Malcolm Subban started his sixth straight game. Subban will start again Sunday against the Rangers.

Subban has played well in Fleury’s stead, posting a 4-1-1 record, to perhaps give the coaching staff extra confidence to use him more frequently.

But this is still Fleury’s team, and the fans will greet him accordingly. There's other reasons for Golden Knights' fans to cheer too.

The team arrives back home in a much better spot than when they left. Vegas took five out of a possible six points in a three-game set in the New York City metropolitan area, as it defeated the Rangers and the New Jersey Devils before the Islanders’ loss.

The Rangers’ win was their finest of the trip, as Alex Tuch scored twice early en route to a 2-0 Golden Knights win. Vegas has beaten New York the last four times the franchises have faced each other, with the only loss in the series coming on Halloween 2017 in a 6-4 setback at Madison Square Garden.

Let’s see if Subban can keep up the success against the Rangers.

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-220, Rangers plus-290; over/under: 6.5 (minus-105, minus-115)

Golden Knights (15-11-5, 33 points) (7-5-3 road), third place, Pacific Division

Coach: Gerard Gallant (third season)

Points leader: Max Pacioretty (26)

Goals leaders: Reilly Smith (12)

Assists leaders: William Karlsson (17)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.54 GAA, .919 save percentage)

Rangers (14-11-3, 31 points) (6-5-1 road), sixth place, Metropolitan Division

Coach: David Quinn (second season)

Points leaders: Artemi Panarin (34)

Goals leaders: Artemi Panarin (13)

Assists leaders: Artemi Panarin (21)

Expected goalie: Alexander Georgiev (2.90 GAA, .919 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty—Paul Stastny—Mark Stone

William Carrier—Cody Glass—Alex Tuch

Tomas Nosek—Chandler Stephenson—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Nate Schmidt

Nicolas Hague—Shea Theodore

Jon Merrill—Deryk Engelland

Goalies

Malcolm Subban, Marc-Andre Fleury

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