FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Kings - Game 50

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Kings – Game 50

Franchise Sports Media

Golden Knights (28-19-3)  | Los Angeles Kings (25-17-7)

 

Jack Eichel scored his first point as a Golden Knight, but VGK lost 4-3 to the Kings in OT.

The Vegas Golden Knights suffered another loss Friday night in overtime to Adrian Kempe and the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are now only three points back of the Golden Knights in the Pacific Division Standings, which are rapidly changing.

The Golden Knights made a few lineup changes since their last game. Nolan Patrick was knocked out of the lineup after taking a high hit from Nathan Mackinnon in the previous game. Keegan Kolesar drew back into the lineup as a result. Head coach Peter DeBoer also shuffled up his lines a bit and put Chandler Stephenson on the first line right wing spot, and reunited the Misfit Line.

All night it was a tightly contested game between two teams fighting for positioning in the Pacific Division Standings. To start, the majority of the chances for the Golden Knights came from the reunited Misfit Line of Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, and Jonathan Marchessault. Andreas Athanasiou had a noticeable game for the Kings, with most of their chances early on.

The first penalty of the game came as Drew Doughty tripped Reilly Smith. This prevented a breakaway for Smith as he had picked off a pass from Viktor Arvidsson. But the Golden Knights were able to score on the ensuing powerplay, with Max Pacioretty breaking his scoring drought.

Pacioretty scored his first goal in eleven games and ended the Golden Knights shutout streak at 147:57, the longest in team history. The play was set up nicely by Jack Eichel, playing in his second game with his new team. He took a hit to make a play, and as the play developed, Pacioretty found the back of the net. Eichel would have to wait until the second period for his first point with the Golden Knights.

The Knights extended their lead with the Misfit Line doing what they do best. Karlsson picked off a pass, and the Misfits were off to the races. Off the rush, Marchessault dished a pass to Smith, who buried it home with a one-timer.

Just 28 seconds later, the Kings answered with Athanasiou walking Nicolas Hague. Athanasiou flipped the puck to himself, worked around Hague, and made a nifty move to score on Laurent Brossoit.

 

To finish out the first period, things got a little chippy between Kempe and Chandler Stephenson.

 

To start the second, Stephenson was in the box for an unsportsmanlike penalty. The man who he quarreled with, Kempe, made him pay with a powerplay goal to tie things up.

Eichel and Pacioretty started to develop even more chemistry in the second period. With a relentless forecheck, Eichel forced a turnover and then got the puck to Ben Hutton. Eichel then got the puck back and fed Pacioretty, who scored. This counted as Eichel’s first career point with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Mattias Janmark, Evgenii Dadonov, and Nicolas Roy followed up with an excellent tic tack toe chance off the rush. But they were denied by Jonathan Quick, and all three of their point streaks continued.

The Kings fought back to tie things with Arvidssons finding Philip Danault breaking. Danault cut behind the Golden Knights defense and scored his career-high fourteenth goal of the season.

The third period resulted in no goals, but as big defensive plays from Shea Theodore, Olli Maatta, and both goaltenders kept the game tied.

The dogfight reached overtime, with both teams earning a point. Kempe continued to be a pain in the side of the Golden Knights and scored the overtime game-winning goal.

The Vegas Golden Knights will hit the road to take on the San Jose Sharks on Sunday. They drop the puck at 4:30 pm on AT&T Sports Net.