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The Vegas Golden Knights lost a division rivalry matchup to the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday, Dec. 27 from the Crypto.com Arena by a final score of 4-2.
“We did a lot of things well,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Certainly, played well enough to win. We weren’t great but neither were they, but we were solid I thought. We lost a defenseman early and we’re relying on younger guys.
“I thought they did a good job; checked well, and didn’t give up a lot of Grade A scoring chances, odd-man rushes, high danger, stayed out of the box and just things they got to do to stay in the game.”
The loss puts Vegas at 24-12-1 on the season as they remain at 49 points in the Pacific Division. Since the Kings beat the Knights, Vegas now only holds a three-point lead over LA in the Division.
This is the third road loss on the season for the Knights as they are now 15-3-1 on the road this year. Before Tuesday’s loss, the last time that Vegas lost on the road in regulation was back on Dec. 1 vs the Pittsburgh Penguins when they lost, 4-3.
“I think we had some o-zone time,” forward William Karlsson said. “We did some stuff well there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score more. We got the chances and I think that’s something we should bring into the next game.”
The two goals scored by Vegas is tied for the fewest scored in a road game for the Knights this season. The only other time that Vegas had scored two goals in a road game was Oct. 18 when they lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames.
Tuesday snaps a 14-game streak of road games with at least three or more goals in a game for Vegas.
“I think they got to their game a little bit quicker than we did,” defenseman Brayden Pachal said. “Obviously coming off the Christmas break, it takes a bit to get into it and they found their game quicker than us tonight.”
The Knights will finish their two-game Southern California road trip Wednesday night as they travel to the Honda Center to face the Anaheim Ducks. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on AT&T Sportsnet in Las Vegas or ESPN+ nationwide.
“We’ll regroup in the morning,” Cassidy said. “We’ve had time off. I think your first game, you’re playing more on adrenalin, and you’re excited to get back out there. Now we’ll be back at it tomorrow and how easy it is to fill the tank after tonight whereas I think when you take a break, it mentally really refreshes you.
“Hopefully the guys don’t let this one bother them too long,” Cassidy said. “Like I said, we were right there but it didn't work out for us.”
After McNabb scored the team’s second goal to take a 2-1 lead halfway through the second period, the Kings responded with three unanswered goals in the final 26:34 of game time to grab the 4-2 win.
McNabb’s goal crossed a lot of firsts off the list for him. For starters, it was his first goal this season. It also was the first goal in 48 games for him along with his first goal against his former team, the LA Kings.
The other Knight responsible for scoring in Tuesday’s contest was center Michael Amadio who scored on the power play with less than seven minutes to go in the opening period. Amadio’s goal tied the game at one.
Amadio is now on a three-game goal streak which is the longest of his career.
Vegas remained without forward Jonathan Marchessault who missed his second-straight game with a lower-body injury and defenseman Shea Theodore who missed his eight straight games with a leg injury.
Center Jack Eichel remains on IR while defenseman Zach Whitecloud remains on the team’s long-term IR list. The team reported Whitecloud’s status as month-to-month a few days ago.