3 takeaways from Golden Knights loss: Injuries mount during skid
Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer has referred to the NHL as a “three-goal league.”
It takes scoring three times to give a team an opportunity to win most nights. Once again, the Knights failed to give themselves that chance.
The latest example was a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The Knights scored two or fewer goals for the ninth time in their last 13 games. They’re 4-8-1 in that stretch and have lost three straight in regulation to begin their season-long, five-game road trip.
The skid has taken them out of a playoff spot by points percentage with 22 games remaining.
“It’s not like we’re getting outplayed for stretches here,” DeBoer said. “I would argue we’ve probably had the better of play and chances most of the periods that we’ve played here. But you’ve got to stick pucks in the net and you’ve got to keep them out of yours.”
The Knights, playing for the second straight day and the sixth time in the last nine days, pushed for offense against Pittsburgh.
They erased a 2-0 deficit in the second period when center Jack Eichel and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo scored to even things up. It was Pietrangelo’s first goal in 13 games. But even with renewed life, the Knights found the two-goal barrier impossible to break.
Pittsburgh had no such trouble. Defenseman Mark Friedman scored his first goal 3:49 into the third to put the Penguins back in front. Right wing Bryan Rust added to the lead with a power-play goal with 5:11 remaining after the Knights didn’t score on two power-play opportunities of their own.
Center Evan Rodrigues sealed Pittsburgh’s fourth win in six games with an empty netter.
The loss moved the Knights to fourth place in the Pacific Division by points percentage and out of the two wild-card spots in the Western Conference. Edmonton, which jumped up to third in the Pacific, has two fewer points than the Knights but has two games in hand.
“We’ve played good,” Pietrangelo said. “Not good enough obviously to win so we need to be better. Simple as that.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
1. Injuries mount
A potential Knights’ playoff lineup, if everyone returned to full health, would feature players that cost around $86 million against the salary cap.
The lineup the team iced Friday cost only $61 million against the cap thanks to injuries to key guys like captain Mark Stone, defenseman Alec Martinez, right wing Reilly Smith, goaltender Robin Lehner and others. That number got even lower by the end of the second period when left wing Max Pacioretty — who counts $7 million against the cap — exited with 8:50 left before intermission with an undisclosed injury. He didn’t return.
Pacioretty, who has 15 goals and 14 assists in 29 games, already has missed 33 games thanks to a broken foot and a wrist injury that required surgery.
“These are the cards we’re dealt,” said DeBoer, who didn’t have an update on Pacioretty after the game. “We’ve got to a good enough group in there to find a way to scratch and claw and win games. We’ve got to get on the right side of it here.”
2. Special teams struggles
Special teams continue to take more than they give for the Knights.
They went 0-for-2 on the power play to drop to 3-for-35 (8.6 percent) their last 13 games. Opponents are 8-for-37 (21.6 percent) that same stretch.
“When we have a scoring chance we have to recover pucks,” Marchessault said. “That’s (what) good power plays do. Scoring chance going to the net, recover the puck. We have one scoring chance and it stops. It’s really frustrating.”
3. Third-period woes
The Knights have had numerous opportunities to earn points during their slide entering the third period. They haven’t grabbed many.
The team is tied for 21st in third-period goal differential at minus-8 after being outscored 3-0 in the final period by Pittsburgh. The Knights have been outscored 18-5 in the third their last 12 games.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
