Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
With Monday’s 3-2 VGK loss to the New Jersey Devils Monday evening, that sound you’re hearing might just be the Vegas Golden Knights’ season swirling around the non-playoff drain.
Sure, there was another announced attendance of plus 18,000 at 18,077.
But the Knights’ disappointing loss to New Jersey ended with a whimper and lots of empty seats around T-Mobile Arena.
The ugly loss meant an ugly hit to the Golden Knights’ playoff chances. The Knights trail the LA Kings for the division’s third and final playoff spot by three points with both teams having five games left on the schedule. The VGK also trail both Nashville and Dallas by four points for a wild card playoff spot with both of those teams having a game at hand over the Golden Knights.
“We really dried up at a bad time,” VGK coach Pete DeBoer said about the team’s lack of goal scoring after the game.
And DeBoer on the goaltending situation: “It’s been an interesting year.”
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On the outside looking in for a postseason berth, the Vegas Golden Knights are at the point of the season where every game is practically a pre-playoff, play-in game.
The mediocre New Jersey Devils came to Las Vegas to play the Knights Monday evening.
And it was the Devils leading after the first period as fourth-liner Nathan Bastian cleaned up a rebound off a save by VGK goalie Robin Lehner and easily nudged the puck into an open net.
It was 1-0, New Jersey.
That’s the way the period ended: New Jersey 1 Vegas 0
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It’s not as if the Knights didn’t have their chances.
In the first period, Nic Roy broke in on Devils goalie Andrew Hammond and shot the puck wide.
Alec Martinez cruised into the high slot and received a nice pass for a great chance but he also shot the puck wide.
In period two, other players like Zach Whitecloud had a nice chance — again, the shot sailed wide, not even forcing the New Jersey netminder to make a save.
Roy broke in again and beat Hammond, but the puck rang off the post.
Then the frustration ended. A pass from Keegan Kolesar to Jake Leschyshyn deflected into the net and the Knights tied the game. Kolesar was credited with the goal.
After two periods: New Jersey 1 Vegas 1
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With the VGK season on the line, the Devils broke the 1-1 tie when another fourth-liner, Andreas Johnsson, picked up a rebound at the side of the crease and roofed the puck behind Lehner early in the third period.
The Devils led, 2-1, as the Knights faced the task of salvaging this game against a team with inferior talent.
And with 12:03 left, Lehner allowed a back-breaking goal to New Jersey.
New Jersey led, 3-1, on an unassisted goal by Jesper Boqvist.
Chandler Stephenson pocketed a goal amid a scramble in front of the New Jersey net to cut the NJ lead to 3-2.
And that was the final score: New Jersey 3 Vegas 2.
Martinez after the game: “There can’t be any quit in this room. We have to just keep grinding away.”
The scores from Monday:
PSA