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The Vegas Golden Knights were not able to keep up with future Hall-of-Famer Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals’ offense and in turn, suffered their second straight loss at home.
The Golden Knights lost to the Capitals, 5-2, Sunday, Nov. 17, at the T-Mobile Arena.
“We were chasing it,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So we were trying to make more plays to get in the game, as opposed to chipping away. That’s kind of what happened to us, put that on top of we weren’t executing to the best of our abilities.”
After starting the season 8-0-0 at home, the team has now lost their last two at The Fortress.
Vegas’ record is now 11-5-2, but it remains one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division.
Sunday was a one-game pit stop at home for the Knights before they hit the road for a five-game road trip.
“Going into other teams’ buildings, I think we really just need to keep it simple,” forward Brett Howden said. “Having good starts is something we preach a lot, that will be the main thing starting this week.”
Their next game is Wednesday, Nov. 20 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Puck drop is set for 4:30 p.m. from the Scotiabank Arena.
“We’re going to travel with 12, maybe 13 forwards,” Cassidy said. “We leave Tuesday, so let’s see where the health of the other guys are. I can’t tell you when we’re going to get a forward back from our roster. They’re skating but I don’t know how close they are and we’ll look at guys in Henderson and we’ll see who’s the best fit for us.”
For the fourth straight game, the VGK offense got off to a slow start and found themselves trailing early in the first period.
“It’s just unfortunate,” Howden said. “We kind of got behind the eight-ball early on and then you’re chasing the game. I thought we did some good things tonight, but it’s got to be right from the start.”
After being down by two goals heading into the final seconds of the first period, Howden finally got the Golden Knights on the board off assists from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and left-wing Tanner Pearson.
“I just try to find myself getting to the net more and having a shooting mentality,” Howden said. “I’ve been lucky enough that pucks have kind of been finding me at the start so far.”
Not only were VGK down, but it would also be without forward Ben Hutton for the rest of the game. The team announced that he would not return after suffering an upper body injury in the first period.
“We just weren’t on our toes early,” Cassidy said. “We just weren’t clean in the first period.”
Vegas found the back of the net again later in the second period when right-wing Keegan Kolesar scored off assists from centers Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel.
“Playing with [Kolesar] the past couple of games, I really enjoyed it,” Hertl said. “He’s really strong, could hold the puck, great on the forecheck… I really enjoyed playing the last couple games with this line.”
The Knights had numerous chances to get even and make things interesting in the game but they were never able to capitalize on their opportunities and the Caps’ offense made them pay by increasing their lead.
“We can’t let them score a couple of goals, it’s not every time that we’ll come back,” Hertl said. “I think we had pretty decent answers in second and third, but we just couldn’t find a way to score.”
Washington’s offense was led by their superstar veteran Ovechkin, who recorded a hat trick in front of the 17,877 people in attendance. He now sits at 866 career goals, which is 28 away from tying Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky at 894, for most goals all-time in NHL history.
With Washington coming into town, Sunday’s game also saw the return of goaltender Logan Thompson. The former VGK goalie enjoyed his special welcome back video tribute and ovation from the crowd during the first period.
Along with the Capitals’ offense, Thompson’s work between the pipes also contributed to them preventing Vegas from getting back in the game. He finished the game with 40 saves for a .952 save percentage.
“We got back into it, I liked our second period,” Cassidy said. “I really thought we probably deserved better if we get a little puck luck and then get back to playing winning hockey, but neither of those happened enough.”
As for the Golden Knights, goalie Ilya Samsonov returned to action after missing the past five games due to injury. It was a rough return for him however, as he finished with 20 saves for a .833 save percentage.
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