Bruce Cassidy said it during the TNT broadcast. He reaffirmed it after the game.

“We knew we were a tired hockey team,” the Golden Knights’ coach said.

It looked like it.

The Knights were held to fewer than 20 shots for the second time in 24 hours, and this time were held off the scoreboard in a 3-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The result was similar to Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

The Knights had almost no space to work with in what turned out to be a tight-checking game. They put up only 18 shots on Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek after accounting for 19 on Saturday.

Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves and played well enough to keep the Knights (39-20-8) in the game, down 1-0 heading into the third period, but they couldn’t find the equalizer against Detroit (32-29-6).

“They did a good job forechecking as a five-man block,” left wing Reilly Smith said. “They made it difficult on us to create. That’s something we have a few days to work on before the next game.”

The Knights finished 1-1-2 on their four-game road trip. The lone win was against the only playoff team on the schedule, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The road trip started out promising. The Knights earned three out of four points through their first two games and played an overall strong game in Columbus on Thursday.

Things changed quickly in 24 hours with a combined 37 shots and three goals through two games.

“Credit to them. They defended us well,” defenseman Nic Hague said. “It’s the time of year where these are desperate hockey games. No matter what you’re playing for, everyone’s playing for something.”

It was a decent start for the Knights, anchored by Samsonov. He stopped all eight shots in the first period despite the Knights being hemmed in their own zone multiple times.

The Knights had chances. Left wing Victor Olofsson hit a post on their first attempt of the game. Defenseman Noah Hanifin had a surefire goal on the weak side broken up by a stick check from Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat.

“Maybe the first shot of the game, if that goes in, maybe that gives us a little something to get excited about,” Cassidy said. “There’s a couple opportunities we needed to finish on, and we didn’t.”

The Knights haven’t used the condensed schedule as an excuse all season. Hague doubled down on that, saying fatigue is “just as an excuse. We have back-to-backs all the time.”

The Knights have four more back-to-backs this season. The next one starts Saturday at home with the Red Wings coming to town for the rematch. The Tampa Bay Lightning follow on Sunday.

First, the Knights have three days off before they try to right the ship against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

When asked if rest is a priority over practice the next few days, Cassidy simply responded, “yes.”

Three takeaways from the loss:

1. Almost offsides

Hockey is a game of millimeters. Detroit’s first goal proved that.

Red Wings right wing Jonatan Berggren kept the puck in the offensive zone when it was about to cross back to the neutral zone.

The puck found its way to defenseman Albert Johansson, who deked by Samsonov and tucked it in at 7:58 of the second for a 1-0 lead.

Cassidy contemplated challenging, but he trusted the instinct of video coach Dave Rogowski, who felt the call would’ve stood and would’ve given Detroit a power play for delay of game.

“I’m shocked the linesman didn’t blow it down. It looked like 98 percent of the puck was out,” Cassidy said. “The goal counted. It was a good play by them. At the end of the day, that’s another difference in the game. That millimeter keeps it 0-0. That’s hockey some nights.”

2. Pietrangelo banged up

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was hampered after blocking a shot with his left arm in the third period.

It impacted him late in the game after colliding with teammate Brayden McNabb and hunching over in pain. Pietrangelo went down the tunnel briefly, but returned to the bench shortly after.

Pietrangelo pulled out of the 4 Nations Face-Off due to an undisclosed ailment. Pietrangelo has three points and is a minus-3 in 11 games since the break.

3. Stone defends Hertl

Captain Mark Stone said while he preferred center Tomas Hertl scoring an empty-net goal that would’ve helped the Knights beat the Sabres, there was nothing wrong with trying to set up center Jack Eichel for a second goal against his former team.

“Looking back on it now, you want Tommy to put it in, but we had a teammate getting booed the entire night, and he wanted to share the wealth with him,” Stone said on the TNT pregame show. “You can’t hate on his willingness to help a teammate out.”

Eichel, the former Sabres captain, scored with 2:33 remaining to give the Knights a 3-2 lead. Hertl’s turnover led to the Sabres tying it with 14 seconds remaining.

Cassidy was short in his assessment of the play Saturday, saying he would’ve preferred Hertl go for the goal.

“We let one get away yesterday, and I hope that’s a learning curve for our team,” Cassidy said. “I was still salty about it, but it’s not easy to win in this league and that’s why you put games away.”

Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.