Golden Knights drop into series with Stars by losing regular-season finale

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Thursday, April 18, 2024 | 9:30 p.m.

Updated Thursday, April 18, 2024 | 10:52 p.m.

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy described his team’s final game of the regular season as a “tune-up” to make sure everything was trending in the right direction heading into the playoffs.

If that’s the case, Vegas failed the test and started moving in reverse. The Anaheim Ducks shocked the Golden Knights 4-1 Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena behind a hat trick from Frank Vatrano, snapping a three-game winning streak for the latter and spoiling “Fan Appreciation Night.”

“I’m sure we can learn something from it but we’ve got to move on and look forward to the playoffs,” center William Karlsson said afterwards in the locker room.

The defeat drops Vegas to the second wild-card, and final Western Conference playoff, spot and a postseason showdown versus top-seeded Dallas.

The best-of-seven series between the Golden Knights and Stars starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Dallas before shifting back to T-Mobile Arena for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday April 27 and Monday April 29.  

Vegas entered Game 82 of 82 heavily-favored to wind up in a series against Edmonton as a result of sitting third place in the Pacific Division. The only way the Golden Knights could fall out of the matchup with the Oilers was if they lost while the Kings either defeated the Chicago Blackhawks or at least reached overtime. 

Los Angeles scored late to force overtime and then ultimately beat Chicago 5-4. The Golden Knights emerged much later than usual for their postgame media obligations because they were catching the action.

“It goes to show you there are no easy games in this league,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You’ve got to show up and play. LA looked like they had it in hand, then all of a sudden, Chicago makes a push and throws one over the glass. At the end of the day, I wasn’t cheering for anybody — just like a lot of people in our room, who do we have and let’s get ready for them.”

Both Los Angeles and Vegas were around -400 (i.e. risking $400 to win $100) to win their respective games in the betting market, implying about an 80 percent chance at victory. Vegas looked the part of a prohibitive favorite early, spending most of the first period in Anaheim’s zone and peppering the Ducks with shots.

But Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal was up to the task, finishing with 29 saves.

“Early on in the first period, I thought we played the right way in terms of how we were going to generate offense —  down below the goal line to the slot, o-zone,” Cassidy said. “We did a really good job, just didn’t finish.”

The Golden Knights at times looked too preoccupied with helping franchise staple Jonathan Marchessault tie the single-season franchise scoring record of 42 goals set by Karlsson in the team’s inaugural campaign.

Marchessault finished with eight shots but many weren’t high-quality and looked rushed including a pair of four attempts in the first period. The free-agent-to-be momentarily appeared to tip in a power-play goal in the second period, but replay confirmed the wrist shot by Jack Eichel found the net without anyone else touching the puck.

Eichel’s goal made the score 1-1, matching a power-play goal from Vatrano earlier in the period.

The second period was more evenly-matched than the first, but Vegas went into the locker room looking poised to capitalize on Eichel’s late goal and take control.

That didn’t happen.

“We’re in the playoffs,” Eichel said afterwards. “That was the goal at the beginning of the season. Every team that’s left standing is a good hockey team. There’s no easy path to winning. We understand that.”

The Ducks scored twice in the opening 80 seconds of the third period to pull away, with goalie Adin Hill letting in stoppable shots by Jackson LaCombe and then Vatrano again.

Hill had another mediocre performance, allowing at least three goals for the 10^th time in his last 11 starts including in all three contests since his latest injury absence.

Vatrano’s final score came on an empty net with 14 seconds remaining.

Cassidy said tonight’s game wouldn’t hold much significance in his decision on whom to play in net during the playoffs, but Logan Thompson is undoubtedly playing better than Hill at the moment.

Thompson must be the favorite to get the start in the improbable first-round series against Dallas.

“It was going to be elite teams either way so I don’t know if it matters that much, Karlsson said of the matchup.

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