Ilya Samsonov made a pair of impressive saves early in overtime to keep the Golden Knights alive, but he had no chance on the third attempt as the Columbus Blue Jackets escaped T-Mobile Arena with a 2-1 overtime victory Thursday night.

Samsonov denied the first shot on a breakaway after Kent Johnson picked Alex Pietrangelo’s pocket in the Columbus defensive zone and raced in on the net. Zach Werenski’s rebound attempt was also stopped, but it landed on the stick of Cole Sillinger for an easy finish on the game-winner 52 seconds into the extra session.

“The goalie makes two big saves,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You hope you get at least the second rebound out of the way and live to fight another day, but it didn’t work out that way.”

Both teams had several good chances to win in regulation, including for the Knights (31-15-6) when defenseman Shea Theodore freed himself with a nifty move at the blue line and fired a shot that got a piece of goaltender Elvis Merzlikins before hitting the crossbar with 2:23 remaining in regulation.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first period, though the goals were vastly different.

After several great shifts for the Knights, they were finally rewarded when Tomas Hertl’s pass was deflected right back to him by a Columbus stick. He calmly worked across the rink to the left wing, where he fired a blast past Merzlikins to put the Knights in front.

The Blue Jackets (25-19-7) answered later in the period when the puck got loose in the crease after a Samsonov save and somehow ended up in the net after a scramble as both teams poked at it. Adam Fantilli was credited with the goal.

“Both their goals came from us mishandling pucks,” Cassidy said.

The Knights thought they had grabbed a lead just before the end of the second period on a similarly chaotic play.

Jack Eichel drove the puck deep and tried to jam it past Merzlikins with defenseman Dante Fabbro riding him toward the goal. Ivan Barbashev was there to tap the puck into an open net after Merzlikins went crashing to the ice with Eichel, but the officials quickly waved it off.

While the crowd was incensed, there didn’t appear to be much of an argument from the Knights’ bench.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Hertl stays hot

Hertl’s goal extended his streak to 11 consecutive games with a point.

It’s the longest such run of his career and second-longest in franchise history. Only Eichel, who had a 12-game streak last season, is ahead of him in the record books.

Hertl has nine goals and six assists during his streak and has eight goals in his last eight games.

He admitted Thursday morning he was aware of his streak, but not because he is checking his own box scores every day.

“I have social media, so of course I see stuff,” he laughed. “But you don’t look for it because you want to keep going and keep helping your team.”

2. Working overtime

The Knights have been tied at the end of regulation in three of their past four home games.

They have lost all three.

Thursday was just the latest in a stretch of games where the Knights have failed to secure an extra point that comes along with winning in overtime or a shootout.

It started with a shootout loss to the Blues last week in a game in which the Knights had all the momentum after rallying to tie the game with a pair of goals in the final 3:10 of regulation.

The opposite happened Tuesday against Dallas when the Stars rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the game before winning on Wyatt Johnston’s third goal of the game just 20 seconds into overtime.

3. Goodbye for now

Thursday marked the last home game for the Knights until Feb. 22 when they host the Canucks.

The Knights will head to New York on Friday and start a three-game, one-hotel swing in the area when they visit the Rangers on Sunday.

They will then head to Boston to play the Bruins on Feb. 8 before the league shuts down for the 4 Nations Face Off.

It’s unclear if the Knights will have injured forwards William Karlsson or Cole Schwindt back when they return from the break, but Cassidy said neither player will be on this road trip.

Both players have been deemed week-to-week with lower-body injuries.

Cassidy said he hopes the Knights can use the four-game road trip to get their game in gear so they can hit the ground running when they return to action.

“I think it’s a bit of a race to the break because every team is looking forward to that part, so when they come back they’re fresh, refreshed and ready to go to get where they want to be,” he said. “That’s a little bit where we’re at. Let’s get to our identity again, get refreshed so we can come out and make a good push for first place. That’s where we’d like to be. That’s getting ahead of ourselves, but that’s kind of where the pocket of months and years break down as segments of the season go.”

The Knights were expected to have seven players competing in the 4 Nations. That went to six with Pietrangelo’s withdrawal, and Karlsson is also expected to miss the event.

Contact Adam Hill at [email protected]. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.