The Vegas Golden Knights’ inability to win battles in front of their own net proved decisive Saturday night in a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena. The defeat extended the Knights’ losing streak to four games.
Coach Bruce Cassidy did not mince words about his team’s performance in the critical area. “We need to be a hell of a lot more competitive in front of our own net,” Cassidy said. “It cost us two goals tonight.”
The first goal of the game came at 6:50 of the opening period, after a turnover by winger Braeden Bowman in the offensive zone. Former Knight Chandler Stephenson raced around defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, dropped the puck to Ryan Winterton, and Eeli Tolvanen cleaned up the rebound. Cassidy noted that four Vegas players were near the crease but failed to prevent Tolvanen from scoring.
“Before the goal we have the puck on our stick in the o-zone, we burp it up and now they’re coming,” Cassidy said. “That part of it, we got four guys in front of our net. Their guy just comes in.”
Seattle added a power-play goal from Jared McCann at 13:04 to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Knights rallied in the second period with goals from Ivan Barbashev and Mitch Marner to tie the game 2-2.
But in the third period, another net-front breakdown allowed Kaapo Kakko to score the go-ahead goal at 3:18. A puck deflected off defenseman Kaedan Korczak and landed on Kakko’s stick in the blue paint. “The battle in front turns out to be the difference tonight,” Cassidy said.
Center Tomas Hertl expressed frustration with the team’s recurring slow starts. “I wish I knew,” Hertl said when asked about the pattern. “We would probably do it.” He added that the team cannot afford to let an early goal deflate them. “Now it’s like, if we give up a goal, here we go again. We stop playing. This can’t happen.”
The Knights have yielded the first goal in seven of their last nine games. Cassidy emphasized that the veteran defense corps must be more reliable, especially with forwards playing out of position due to injuries. “That’s our D taking care of business there,” he said. “It’s our goaltender fighting and finding pucks.”
Vegas has little time to dwell on the loss, as they travel to Anaheim to face the Ducks on Sunday in the second half of a back-to-back.
