Glow goes dull: Golden Knights lose to Canucks in first game with new sweaters

By Danny Webster

Published Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022 | 9:40 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022 | 10:59 p.m.

Neon was everywhere. Towels were waved. The sweaters really did glow in the dark.

All of those elements showed up Saturday night. The Golden Knights did not get the memo.

The Golden Knights gave up three power-play goals, the fourth time this year they gave up multiple in a game, en route to a 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

It was the sixth time in their last nine games that the Golden Knights (16-6-1) allowed four goals in a game. Vegas, coming off a 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken on Friday at home, has given up 44 goals through 13 games in November — 3.38 per game.

"It seems like every game right now it's just something," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "We've just got to find a way to piece everything together."

This night was the debut of the Golden Knights' innovative glow-in-the-dark sweaters. The first of its kind in the NHL got its VIP treatment with a new video introduction and a medieval battle taking place at the Neon Museum.

Vegas players walked through a lowly-lit ultraviolet tunnel that showcased these sweaters. The diagonal Vegas crest glowed an ominous green, looking every bit as stellar as advertised.

Then, everything went dull.

Vancouver scored two power-play goals in the first period from Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson to take a 2-0 lead.

Pettersson scored his second goal of the game, also on the power play, on the first shot of the man advantage at 11:33 of the second. Andrei Kuzmenko scored just under two minutes later for Vancouver's first even-strength goal to make it 4-0.

With the final seconds ticking down in the second, Nils Hoglander forced a turnover from Phil Kessel along the wall, found teammate JT Miller alone in front of the net, and he passed the puck off to Canucks captain Bo Horvat with 0.1 seconds left for the 5-0 advantage.

Two of those power-play goals came on Vancouver's first shot, which put Vegas in a hole early. Vegas forward Reilly Smith said that was a factor of not putting enough pressure on the Canucks off the faceoff, giving them clean looks at the net.

"They got those two shots, but they weren't bad looks on those shots," Smith said. "We need to do a better job getting in lanes and get on people early [so they're] not able to get that look."

For seven minutes, it looked like the Golden Knights had gotten back on track after what — at the time — looked like their worst performance of the year Friday. They had four good looks in the opening moments, but Vancouver goalie Spencer Martin turned them all aside.

Vegas captain Mark Stone missed a wide-open net during a power play that would've tied the game.

Following that seven-minute stretch, the Golden Knights gave up a 2-on-1 the other way with Pettersson's shot saved by goalie Logan Thompson. That's when the momentum tilted in Vancouver's favor.

"They find their legs and they're a good rush team," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "If you force them to go back and break pucks out and play behind them, now we have some opportunity to pin them in. That's when we'll have success against teams like Vancouver that do well off the rush.

"We got away from that. Our forecheck structure wasn't as tight as it needed to be. Now we're taking, I don't know if it's undisciplined penalties. ... That was part of what happened, and now you're chasing the game."

The Golden Knights entered Saturday killing 18 of 23 penalties (78%) over the previous nine games. Saturday was the second time they've given up at least two in one period.

"I think we're playing a little too passive," Smith said. "Sometimes our instincts are what you need to work off of, and I feel like right now, we're in-between a lot and it cost us that game, for sure."

The only spirited action Vegas put together was in the physicality department. Jonathan Marchessault fought Canucks forward Conor Garland, his third NHL tilt, followed by Keegan Kolesar fighting Vancouver's Dakota Joshua in the third period.

Marchessault scored the Golden Knights' lone goal with 3:16 remaining to prevent the Vancouver shutout.

Since their nine-game winning streak that launched them to the top of the league standings, the Golden Knights dropped to 3-4-1 in their last eight. All four losses in regulation have come at home.

For retro sweaters that paid homage to Las Vegas in 1995, the 6-year-old hockey team was non-existent.

The Golden Knights will take their league-best 9-1-1 road record out for a four-game stint starting Monday in Columbus. It's been a trip that's been circled since the schedule came out. It will conclude with a trip to Boston against Cassidy's former team, the top-of-the-league Bruins.

Cassidy said the struggles have stemmed from asking goalies Thompson and Adin Hill to make too many high-danger saves, and that they need to get back to simplifying the game for their young goalies.

"We seem to be able to produce better on the road than at home for whatever reason," Cassidy said. "The road is calling us."

Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.