Golden Knights salvage one point after third straight loss on road trip

For a second straight game, the Vegas Golden Knights suffered a late mishap resulting in a game-winning goal being given up with less than 20 seconds left on the clock.

Vegas dropped the final part of a three-game road trip, 4-3, Saturday, Oct. 19 against Florida. The team manages to come away with just one point of a possible six on the road trip after dropping this one in overtime.

Last year’s VGK squad didn’t lose its third game until Nov. 11.

“We didn’t take care of the front end of the third goal,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We didn’t take care of the front end against Tampa there late in the game the other night too […] So that’s probably the common theme.”

Saturday’s game featured the last two Stanley Cup Champions and was a rematch of the 2023 title series which was won by the Knights. Through the first two weeks of the season, Vegas has played the four other champs since 2019.

With its third straight loss, the Golden Knights are now 3-2-1 with seven points in the first month of the season. They still sit behind an undefeated Calgary team at 4-0-0 with eight points.

“Early in the year on a roadtrip, you obviously want to bank in some of these points,” center Brett Howden said. “To only get one, I mean it’s frustrating forsure.”

Vegas will return home next week to begin a four-game homestand. That stretch opens Tuesday, Oct. 22 from the T-Mobile Arena against Los Angeles with puck drop scheduled for 8 p.m.

“We’ve got to probably fix a few things and put it behind us at the same time,” left-wing Tanner Pearson said. “Then get back to work at home and become homers again for the week.”

The Panthers’ game-winning goal in overtime gave the home team its first and only lead of the game. With just over seven minutes left in the third period, the reigning champs tied the game at three apiece after the Knights took their third lead of the game.

“When we have the lead, we should be a bit more hungry to keep building on that and keep going,” Howden said. “I think we can do a better job of keep building off that and gaining momentum.”

Vegas gave up a season-high 49 shots on goal coupled with a season-high 27 giveaways. Goalie Ilya Samsonov was under duress for a good portion of his second outing with his new team.

He went the entire first period without giving up a goal, a first for the team this season. By the final horn, he racked up 45 saves, one shy of tying his career-high of 46.

On the other hand, the Golden Knights scored in the first period for a sixth straight game. They didn’t tally their first shot on goal until more than 10 regulation minutes into play.

“We’ll be learning all year,” Cassidy said. “That’s just going to happen. We do have some younger players upfront. I know our deep core will get better.”

Pearson was moved back to the fourth line and it paid immediate dividends for Cassidy and company. He scored his first goal of the season with 33 seconds left in the first period off an assist from center Nicolas Roy.

The duo paired up again in the second period to assist on a goal by fellow lineman Keegan Kolesar, his first of the season. That marked the 13th different player to score so far this season for the VGK, which leads the league.

“We got goals out of basically the bottom of the lineup tonight,” Cassidy said. “Three goals, so usually those are games you win.”

Howden scored the final Vegas goal on the night in the third period to give the team its third lead of the game.