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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Man, there were a lot of Blueshirts in the T-Mobile Arena crowd tonight.
The New York Rangers arrived — including retiring Hall of Fame broadcaster Sam Rosen — and the “Let’s Go Rangers” chants were heard in the Big Ice House by the Strip. Attendance was announced at 18,143.
The goaltenders — Igor Shesterkin for the Rangers and Vegas’ Ilya Samsonov — were on top of their games in the first period.
What’s interesting is that Samsonov is considered the backup on Vegas, but his numbers are right there with those of VGK netminder Adin Hill. Coming into tonight’s game, Samsonov was 11-3-1 with 2.65 GAA and .907 save percentage, while Hill was 17-7-2 with 2.60 GAA and a .903 save %.
The Knights had their chances.
But they could not convert opportunities into goals.
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in period two, the VGK lost to the Rangers, 2-1, for their second consecutive home loss to a New York team.
Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said he was concerned that the Knights failed to pick up a point in two games. But he’s “not concerned with the big picture” after his team scored one goal in the last two games.
“I through we generated enough looks to get more than one goal,” Cassidy said at his postgame presser. “I thought the efforts were there.”
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The Golden Knights scored first.
It was a power play goal by the captain, Mark Stone, off a pass from Jack Eichel.
Stone was camped on the side of the net, took the Eichel pass and then did his sweep move to get the puck past Shesterkin.
But the Rangers countered with their own power play goal when Vincent Trocheck was struck with the puck in the midsection, but managed to take a backhand swipe at the puck and poked it past Samsonov.
It was 1-1 midway through the second period.
The Knights scored a second or two after the end of the second period. And the horn sounded for a goal. But the replay showed the puck went into the Rangers net well after the end of the period.
After two periods: New York Rangers 1 Golden Knights 1.
The Golden Knights were rolling with the NHL’s best record and they were favored to keep the wins going when the New York Islanders skated into T-Mobile Arena two nights ago.
But the VGK offense was lukewarm and Isles goalie Ilya Sorokin was sharp, pitching a 4-0 shutout Thursday. It was only the VGK’s fifth home loss of the season against 17 wins.
The VGK could muster only a single goal through the first 40 minutes tonight and then trailed in the third period when Rangers’ fourth-liner Adam Edstrom redirected the puck past Samsonov.
“It was not a great winning goal,” Cassidy of the Rangers’ second goal that snuck past the VGK netminder.
New York grabbed that 2-1 lead with about 14 minutes to go in the game.
The VGK pressed for the equalizer.
The Rangers were outshooting the Knights, 23-12, at one point.
But as the Knights pushed to tie the game, they would eventually outshoot New York, 29-26, for the game.
The scoreboard told the bottom line: Rangers 2 Golden Knights 1.
The Knights dropped to 28-11-3 on the season, stuck on 59 points after another home ice loss. It was the sixth loss at home against 17 wins.
VGK play Minnesota Sunday at 5 PM here in Vegas.
“We do not have time to sit around and dwell about it,” Cassidy said of the Knights’ loss tonight ad Sunday’s game against the Wild.