VGK offense falls flat in shutout loss on the road against Maple Leafs

The Vegas Golden Knights struggled to find the back of the net and suffered their first shutout loss of the season to start their road trip.

Vegas lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0, on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the Scotiabank Arena.

“Lately we haven’t had the scoring that we did earlier in the year, you know that would balance out,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “The third period was uncharacteristic of us, didn’t do much right, and we ended up paying the price.”

The loss dropped their record 11-6-2, but the team is still one point ahead of the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division. 

Wednesday was the first of two meetings between the Knights and the Maple Leafs this season. They won’t play against each other again until March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, VGK had won two straight road games, but the loss dropped their road record to 3-4-2

The Golden Knights will continue to hit the road as this was the start of a five-game road trip. They will stay north of the border for their next game and travel to Ottawa to play against the Senators on Thursday, Nov. 21. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“I think we definitely had some looks, their goalie made some good saves tonight,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “We had some good chances and just couldn’t find a way to bury, which is something we’re not used to this year. So we just got to learn from tonight’s game and we’re right back at it tomorrow with another huge one. So we got to turn the page here and learn from it.”

After coming off a loss in their previous game, Vegas continued to struggle on offense on Wednesday. They weren’t able to score in the third period of their last game and it carried over against Toronto, as they weren’t able to light up the net and were shutout.

“I thought we generated some good looks, but obviously we didn’t score, so it didn’t help the team enough,” forward Jack Eichel said. “You want to be able to come up big in those situations, give the team momentum… but just wasn’t able to score.”

Even though the scoreboard didn’t reflect it, the Knights were the more aggressive team. They shot 31 shots on goal compared to the Leafs’ 26.

“We need to do better,” Eichel said. “We need to find a way to get two points. It’s as simple as that.”

The biggest problem for VGK was that they weren’t able to capitalize on any of their power play opportunities. They went 0-for-3, while allowing the Maple Leafs to go 1-for-2 on their own.

“I thought our chances were good chances, especially in the power play,” Hanifin said. “They play a hard game, especially defensively, boxing out, making it hard against the net with their layers. So we knew it was going to be a pretty tough fight tonight with their lineup. They work hard and unfortunately we couldn’t get those goals to keep us in the game.”

Besides dealing with the travel, another factor that the Golden Knights had to deal with was the tough and chippy play throughout the game. By the final buzzer, the two teams combined for 56 hits.

“I hope the guys realize themselves, it wasn’t a very good third period,” Cassidy said. “We didn’t play the right way, which we done a lot this year. We play well and finish games, just not tonight.”

Despite the scoreboard being lopsided, the game was pretty evenly played and Vegas even had the advantage in some places. Both teams won 24 faceoffs, and the Knights had more takeaways and less giveaways than Toronto.

After sitting out the last game, goalie Adin Hill returned to start at goalie for the VGK. He finished the game with 23 saves for a .920 save percentage, but he was not responsible for the last goal because it was on an empty net. The loss drops his record to 8-4-1 on the season.

On the other end of the ice, Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll was between the pipes for the Leafs. He posted a perfect save percentage with 31 saves in a shutout performance.

Woll did get some help from his teammates though as the Maple Leafs had 25 blocked shots, compared to the Golden Knights’ 14.

“Give them credit, their goalie made some saves, obviously their willingness to block shots, and their desperation,” Eichel said. “Frustrating, obviously had some power play opportunities and our power plays helped us out a lot this year. We weren’t able to do that tonight, and I think that was the difference.”