Golden Knights return from reboot to face Avalanche
Hopefully for the Vegas Golden Knights, Christmas was a time to help them overcome their frustration of yet another overtime loss heading into their mini-holiday break.
A 4-3 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Sunday was their second consecutive loss in the extra period in successive days (Montreal beat them in OT on Saturday in Las Vegas). It was the third time the Knights (20-15-4) had allowed an overtime goal in their last six outings.
They had three days without practice since Sunday heading into Thursday's game against the Colorado Avalanche (19-12-6) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Avalanche also enter the game looking for answers with consecutive losses and a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games.
Frustrated Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury smashed his stick on the post and angrily skated off the T-Mobile Arena ice after surrendering an overtime goal to the Kings' Tyler Toffoli on a breakaway Sunday.
"I want to make a difference," Fleury said. "I want to give our team a chance to win these games. I haven't and it's been pissing me off.
"That last one, one-on-one with me, I should have made a save and gave us a chance to stay in the game. It's two in a row now with both games being overtime losses. I've got to be better."
Defenseman Nate Schmidt's decision to leave toward the bench for a substitute allowed Toffoli to take a long pass from Oscar Fantenberg just before crossing the blue line, triggering the decisive breakaway.
Shea Theodore hopped over the boards in place of Schmidt and gave chase, but it proved futile.
"It was a stupid change," a dejected Schmidt said as he sat in front of his stall. "Stupid of me. It was dumb. I feel bad for (Fleury) and the guys."
Sunday's loss also dropped the Knights to 3-3 in overtime games this season and 1-3 in the last four. They have also split two shootouts.
"I think a lot of it is just mental," forward Reilly Smith said. "It's a pretty simple game when its 3-on-3, a lot of man-on-man and just making sure you stay in front of your guy.
"It seems like we have been slipping assignments a little bit and they have cost us. Those are big points to lose, especially before Christmas. We wanted to win these last two and have a good end before this little break."
Colorado had a much-needed break after losing 6-4 at Arizona on Saturday. The Avalanche had played six times in the previous nine days.
The game in Vegas begins a stretch of playing five games in nine days, including four in a row at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
The Avalanche rallied for three goals in the third period to tie the score against the Coyotes only to allow a goal with 3:39 left and then an empty-netter with 12 seconds remaining.
Alexander Kerfoot scored two goals, and Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado.
Philipp Grubauer allowed four goals on 16 shots and was replaced in the second period by Czech Pavel Francouz, who made 21 saves in his NHL debut.
"We have to learn how to bring that every single night, right from the drop of the puck," Landeskog said. "We were a little bit sluggish and didn't execute in the first two periods, but the way we played in the third, that's the way we've got to bring it every night."
