Golden Knights deserved better fate than tough-luck loss to Kings

Nick Holden fished the puck out of the back of the net and flung it down the ice in frustration. It was the fourth goal the Golden Knights allowed, and on a night where they fired 88 shot attempts at the Los Angeles Kings, it was vexing to come up with only one goal of their own.

The Golden Knights were the better team in every metric but the final score in a 4-1 loss on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena. 

So why then did the Golden Knights lose a game they should have won? There are a couple of reasons.

It starts with the Los Angeles goalie. Cal Petersen played arguably the best game of his career on Sunday, making 42 saves that was a season-high and one shy of a career-best. There are few forces in hockey stronger than a hot goalie, and that’s just what Vegas faced. Petersen turned away everything but a Shea Theodore power-play missile in the second, and even on that one he was out of position after Max Pacioretty dented the post on the attempt before.

The Golden Knights’ 88 shot attempts were the second-most in a game this season, but the 3.92 expected goals were just the ninth-highest. That speaks to a lower quality per shot, though when a team generated nearly four expected goals, you figure more than one will find then net.

That was also thanks to Los Angeles’ defensive systems. It may be odd to praise a unit that allowed so much bombardment coming the other way, but the Kings stepped in the lane to block 24 shots Sunday, the second-most by a Vegas opponent this season. It’s harder to get pucks to the net when the defense doesn’t allow it.

“I know the shots were kind of lopsided there but they had good looks and they kept everything to the outside and we know they’d do that,” forward Paul Stastny said. “They have the lead like that and it’s hard to get back in the game because they kind of put up a wall and protect their goalie and keep the second and third chances away.”

If there’s any lasting cause for concern, it’s the way the Golden Knights have started games lately. When they were winning it was easier to shake off — who cares about giving up the first goal when you win anyway? Sunday was the second game in a row Vegas allowed a goal on the first shot of the game, and sixth time in its last nine games.

It forces the Golden Knights to chase the game. When Anze Kopitar scores on the Kings’ first shot 2:01 after the first puck drop, it doesn’t make the Golden Knights happy. When he scores again five and a half minutes later, suddenly the Golden Knights are looking down the barrel of a two-goal deficit, something they’ve overcome twice all season.

“I think the story of the game was we got behind and we were chasing it all night and you fall into a 2-0 hole against anybody in this league and it has the potential to be a long night,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said.  “Those games are going to happen over a full season.”

Even the goals the Golden Knights gave up didn’t make you cover your eyes and turn away from the replay. Kopitar is still an elite player and if you give him the time and space, he’s going to score. The third goal was a bit of an odd one when Trevor Lewis spun and fired around Holden. The fourth one was the product of some poor rebound control and if there was one to blame the goalie on, it would be that one. Marc-Andre Fleury made 13 saves on 17 shots.

It’s unlikely a clunker against the Kings will cost the Golden Knights much. They’re comfortably in first place in the Pacific Division and had the NHL’s longest winning streak entering the game. They’ve played their best hockey of the season over the last weeks and one tough game doesn’t change the outlook of this team.

Though it doesn’t help that the Kings are the worst team in the Western Conference with a 25-35-6 record and an even worst 10-22-4 mark on the road. And yet they handled the Golden Knights last time they have come to town and are 4-2 across three regular seasons at T-Mobile Arena.

“It’s hard to drop a game like that but we’ve been playing really well over the last couple of weeks,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “Hopefully we can just chalk this one up to a learning experience that there’s not a team in this league that you can take lightly.”

 

 

Justin Emerson can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Justin on Twitter at twitter.com/@j15emerson.