The Vegas Golden Knights had the chances, the shots and a lead heading into the third period. What they didn’t have Friday was the finish.
Nashville stormed back at T-Mobile Arena and escaped with a 3-2 shootout win, ending Vegas’ four-game winning streak even after the Knights fired 42 shots at Juuse Saros. Ryan O’Reilly scored both Predators goals in regulation, then Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi delivered in the shootout to push Nashville to its seventh straight victory.
The loss came despite a strong night from Adin Hill, who stopped 30 shots and kept Vegas in front for much of the game. The Knights had built a 2-1 lead after Victor Olofsson tied it late in the second period and Rasmus Andersson scored midway through the second on a 4-on-4 chance created by Mitch Marner’s speed and vision.
O’Reilly opened the scoring on a setup from Steven Stamkos, and the Knights answered when Olofsson, while on the seat of his pants, buried Ivan Barbashev’s rebound to make it 1-1. Andersson then put Vegas ahead, cruising into the slot and finishing after Marner drew Nashville defenders toward him.
But the game started to tilt late in the second, and Nashville carried that momentum into the third. Hill was beaten 9:44 into the period when O’Reilly slipped behind the net, walked out unchecked and tucked the puck past him to tie it 2-2.
“Could we have created a little more traffic and more chaos the way they did? For sure,” said defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who put the Knights ahead midway through the second. “They spread us out a little bit in the D zone in the third period and got more pucks to the net.”
Ryan Craig pointed to the same issue after the game.
“Our puck management wasn’t as crisp in the third period,” Knights coach Ryan Craig said. “Our support coming out of our end wasn’t as good as it had been the first couple of periods.”
Both teams had chances to end it before the shootout. Reid Schaeffer hit the post with 6:32 left in regulation, and Olofsson rang one off the iron in overtime.
In the shootout, Trevor Connelly scored for Vegas and it looked like that might be enough. Forsberg answered for Nashville, Jack Eichel was unable to get off a shot, and Josi finished the job to seal the comeback.
The Knights still grabbed a point, but it came with a reminder of how quickly a game can slip away when a team stops controlling the middle of the ice.
“You got to learn from it,” said center William Karlsson. “We were chasing them around in the third period and it tilted in their favor.”
Vegas now turns to a three-game stretch to close the five-game homestand, starting with Vancouver on Sunday before Dallas visits Tuesday and Thursday.
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