COLUMBUS - The Golden Knights keep running into the same ugly issues, and on Saturday they cost them again.
Vegas dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game that exposed the club’s slumping offense, shaky penalty kill and a bad break that helped set the tone early.
The first goal came with a little misfortune mixed in for the Golden Knights. An attempt to clear the zone caromed off one of the camera holes in the glass, keeping the puck alive for Columbus in the offensive end. Denton Mateychuk took advantage from there, driving to the net with a clean path and finishing with a slick backhand move past Carter Hart.
Vegas answered before the first intermission. Trevor Connelly found Braedan Bowman driving hard to the crease, and Bowman’s shot nearly slipped through Cam Talbot, a familiar problem for the Golden Knights. Tomas Hertl got to the loose puck first and buried it to tie the game 1-1.
From there, the night turned into the kind of grinder that has been showing up too often around this team lately. The final 40 minutes didn’t produce a clean, flowing answer from either side, but Vegas did show a few signs of life.
Connelly was moved onto the top line with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone late in the second period and remained there, with that trio generating the best chances the Golden Knights could muster after the switch. The penalty kill also gave them a lift early in the third, killing off two penalties and briefly keeping the door open.
But the break-through never arrived, and overtime ended quickly. Shea Theodore’s penalty 15 seconds into the extra session gave Columbus the opening it needed, and Adam Fantilli finished the game with the winner.
It marked the Golden Knights’ third straight loss, their first three-game skid of the season, and the concerns are piling up fast for head coach Ryan Craig. The offense has gone cold, with just three goals over the last nine periods of hockey. That number should rise once Mitch Marner returns to the lineup, but the lack of punch without one of the team’s main offensive engines is impossible to ignore.
The penalty kill has become another problem area, too. Vegas has now allowed a power-play goal in five straight games, and a shuffle in the units would not be a surprise if the staff decides it needs a new look.
The Golden Knights now get a couple of days to sort through the mess before trying to snap the skid Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators at T-Mobile Arena.
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The bigger shift has been how he is getting there. Eichel has played with more aggression and sharper shot selection, and the fit around him has helped, with Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev giving Vegas a more dangerous look whenever the top line is rolling. Even without a power-play goal this season, Eichels production has taken on the shape of a true No. 1 star, and the Knights are benefiting from the version of him that attacks more often and finishes cleaner than before. [Read more 🡒]