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Things went south quickly in the second period of the latest outing for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Washington handed Vegas a loss, 4-2, in its first road game of the season Tuesday, Oct. 15 from the Capital One Arena. That marked the start of a three-game East Coast road trip for the VGK.
“Those stretches on the road, you can’t basically dig yourself a grave,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s what happened with three penalties in a row — they’re tough to kill. Three goals in whatever it was, five minutes or whatever, you’ve got to limit the damage there.”
Losing on Tuesday means the Golden Knights are no longer undefeated after starting the new campaign 3-0-0. Them along with the Calgary Flames were the only undefeated team remaining in the Pacific Division entering Tuesday.
Vegas’ road trip continues Thursday, Oct. 17 against Tampa Bay. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. inside Amalie Arena.
“We’ve got to find a way to play the right way on the road trip,” forward Ivan Barbashev said. “I think our legs were under us [but] we let them push us around for a while.”
Three goals scored in just over three minutes put the Golden Knights behind the eight-ball, a place they could not find themselves out of. The Capitals entered the second period on a power play following a late first period tripping penalty on center Nicolas Roy.
Sixteen seconds into the second, Vegas committed another penalty to go down 5-on-3 on the ice.
While both penalties were killed, Washington capitalized on its third chance with a goal to take a 2-1 lead. That would be the first of three goals scored against VGK goalie Adin Hill.
The next two goals came within 57 seconds of each other. At that point, Hill had given up four goals on the first 14 shots he faced.
“[Penalty kill], PK, PK, Barbashev said. “Huge momentum for them to be honest especially when they’ve got [Alex Ovechkin] on the power play.”
Hill now falls to 0-3-0 against the Capitals in his career. On Tuesday, he saved 18 shots for a final save percentage of .818.
“Our execution wasn’t great early on,” Cassidy said. “We just never got to any pace in our game. Our execution was very average.”
In the opposing net was former Vegas goalie Logan Thompson who starred in that same second period, stopping two vital breakaway attempts from forwards Mark Stone and Alexander Holtz.
Thompson saved 24 shots on the night while allowing just two goals to a team that averaged five a game coming in.
In the offseason, Thompson was traded from the Knights to the Capitals for third round picks in the 2024 and 2025 NHL Drafts.
“We did have a breakaway,” Cassidy said. “Holtz had one and Stoney so maybe it’s different if we’re able to capitalize then but good on Logan for making the saves there
Center Jack Eichel picked up a point for a fourth straight game on his second goal of the season in the second period. His goal was assisted by top line Barbashev and Stone.
That trio variation has combined for four goals and account for 16 assists through the first four games of the season.
“They’ve been our best line offensively,” Cassidy said. “And they should be, they’re the drivers. I thought they were early, they got a little tired and that’s probably on me for overuse.”
Several failed Vegas power plays contributed to the team’s first loss of the season. The team was successful on its first power play opportunity but would fail on its final three chances.
Additionally, the team was only able to muster three shots on goal in those four power play scenarios. The Knights are now 2-for-10 on the power play their last three games played after converting two of three in the season opener.
“We’re predominantly a four-line team,” Cassidy said. “Eichel and Stone’s line have played a lot early, probably more, some of that is because they’re on the power play and penalty kill a lot.”
Right-winger Victor Olofsson scored on the lone successful power play for Vegas off the first of two assists by Stone. Late in regulation, Olofsson would go down following a collision and would not return to the game.
“He was just trying to pursue a puck,” Cassidy said. “[He was trying to] get there first and they got tangled up. I don’t have an update on it, it didn’t look good when he left the ice but hopefully its not too severe.”
The Golden Knights have already been without Original Misfit William Karlsson all season as he battles an undisclosed injury.
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