FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Kings Game 29

The Vegas Golden Knights came into Sunday’s afternoon game looking to sweep the two game series against the Los Angeles Kings and extend their winning streak to six games.

The opening frame of Sunday’s game saw both teams come out with a high compete level as both Vegas and L.A. looked pretty evenly matched in the first twenty minutes. It was a much different first period than Friday’s game which saw the Knights put up a two-goal lead around the halfway mark, with the Kings cutting the lead in half in the final seconds. The VGK penalty kill unit was called upon early as Brayden McNabb took a tripping penalty in the opening minutes, but the Knights were able to kill it off.

McNabb has had a history of taking quite a bit of penalties during his tenure with the Knights but had done well with staying out of the box since his return, so hopefully, this does not become a trend again. The rest of the period saw no goals scored, and L.A. lead the shot total by a slim margin of 10-8 after the first twenty minutes.

The second period was much more eventful as both teams engaged in a special teams battle and a couple of goals were scored.

With 13:51 remaining in the period, Sean Walker took advantage of a dogpile in front of the VGK net and buried a loose puck as Johnathan Marchessault attempted to clear him out from in front of the net. It was challenged by coach Pete DeBoer for goalie interference but was ruled a good goal as even though there was incidental contact, Walker was fouled into the contact from Marchessault’s cross-check from behind the goal stood as called.

Since the challenge failed, the VGK were charged with a delay of game penalty, and the L.A. Kings were given their second powerplay opportunity of the night. Just forty seconds later, the Kings capitalized with the man advantage as Dustin Brown redirected the puck past Fleury for his 8^th powerplay goal of the year to give his team a 2-0 lead.

Vegas had a couple of power-play opportunities of their own in the middle frame as Sean Walker took a hooking penalty with 6:51 left in the period. Unfortunately for the VGK, the best chance came from L.A. forward Blake Lizotte as he put a shot on net from point-blank range, but Fleury was able to make the save and prevent the shorthanded goal. The Knights were gifted another opportunity with the man advantage shortly after as Kurtis MacDermid tripped up Keegan Kolesar but were unable to convert. Fleury came up with another huge save in the final seconds robbing Andreas Athanasiou to keep his team in the game.

The third period saw the Knights takeover in terms of shot total but their performance with the extra man ended up being their Achilles heel.

A little over two minutes in, Jeff Carter took a tripping penalty to give the VGK their third powerplay opportunity of the night, and they would have scored if not for an outstanding play from Drew Doughty to keep the puck out of the net. Chandler Stephenson fired the puck on net, but Doughty got in behind Cal Peterson and somehow kept it out with his skate but dislodged the net in the process, taking a delay of game penalty to give the VGK a 5 on 3 opportunity.

When down 2-0 in a game, an opportunity like that needs to be capitalized on, but the Knights could not convert. Tomas Nosek finally scored the Knights first and only goal of the night with 3:27 remaining, and it looked like Vegas might be able to pull off some late-game magic as we have seen them do so many times before. However, Jeff Carter scored less than a minute later on a breakaway opportunity to give the Kings a 3-1 lead and ice the game. As we enter the latter half of the season, Vegas will want to improve upon their powerplay as going 0/4 is not ideal, and special teams become a huge factor in the postseason.

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play this evening taking on the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be on AT&T Sportsnet and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.

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-D.J. Wood– Franchise Sports Media

Follow D.J. on Twitter @DJwoody97

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