Off Night For Golden Knights: Islanders Whitewash VGK, 4-0, Before Announced Crowd Of 17,713 Thursday
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t like his team’s start tonight.
But Cassidy didn’t believe an apparent VGK power play goal erased by a New York Islanders challenge was not deflating in the first period.
“It should not be deflating,” Cassidy said after a 4-0 loss to the Islanders at T-Mobile Arena Thursday. “It gave them some juice.
That “juice” resulted in the Islanders scoring three goals on their first 11 shots on Knights netminder Adin Hill in the first two periods.
“Their five-on-five analytics are good,” Cassidy said. “When they had opportunities, they finished.”
New York’s Anders Lee scored with about three minutes left in the first period before teammates Brock Nelson and Bo Horvat hit the twine in the middle stanza.
The Knights announced a crowd of 17,713 and the Vegas faithful at T-Mobile Arena did not have much to cheer about in the first 40 minutes.
Cassidy said the Knights had issues with breakouts and skating a clean neutral zone.
The Islanders, entering the game in last place in its division with a 15-18-7 (37 points) record, led the VGK, 3-0, after two periods.
The Islanders’ goalie, Ilya Sorokin, the 29-year-old Russian, played well shutting down the VGK shooters.
Casey Cizikas padded the Isles’ scoring with an empty-netter and the Knights’ 4-0 loss was a disappointing performance before New York area’s other team, the Rangers, come to the Big Ice House by the Strip Saturday.
