Golden Knights’ 2-game win streak snapped by Predators, 5-2
Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone needed one punch to drop Nashville defenseman Roman Josi during a rare fight involving two marquee players.
But the sight of their captain getting pounded late in the first period Tuesday night appeared to ignite the Predators.
Nashville scored three times in the first 6:52 of the second period and went on to a 5-2 victory over the Knights in front of an announced crowd of 18,188 at T-Mobile Arena.
“That was a great job by Stoney. That was awesome,” Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “We should be coming out with a bunch of energy after that. It’s a tough way to start the second, and it was a big hole that we couldn’t come back from.”
Stone finished an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick, as he also scored his fifth goal in the first period. Reilly Smith added a goal late in the first before the Predators responded with four straight goals to snap the Knights’ two-game winning streak.
“We made some mistakes tonight (that are) uncharacteristic of our hockey team,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “They won the tough areas tonight. That was the difference in the game.”
Here’s what stood out from the Knights’ loss:
1. Glass finds home on power play.
When the season started, rookie center Cody Glass was used as the “bumper” on the Knights’ power play, which is the position in the high slot between the four penalty killers. It’s where Boston’s Patrice Bergeron makes his living on one of the NHL’s most consistent units.
But that responsibility seemed to stunt Glass’ playmaking ability, and he since has been stationed along the goal line (when the puck is on the left side of the ice) or in front of the net (when it’s on the right side). The new spot affords Glass more space to set up teammates.
That’s exactly what happened in the first period when Glass took a pass near the front of the net, turned and sent a no-look feed to Stone — who was in the “bumper” position — for a one-timer from the slot. It was the fourth straight power play on which the Knights scored.
Glass later tried a cheeky, between-the-legs pass from below the goal line with his back to the play during a second-period power play.
After finishing 25th in the league on the power play at 16.8 percent last season, the Knights rank sixth at 29.2 percent (7 of 24).
“We’re making some real good plays down low,” Gallant said.
2. Predators dictate tempo.
For the second straight game, the Knights faced a team ranked in the top two in scoring. But unlike Sunday’s 5-2 win at Los Angeles, the Predators’ offense proved tougher to handle.
Nashville came in averaging a league-best 4.6 goals per game, and all four of its lines produced points against the Knights, who allowed a season high in goals.
Knights defensemen Deryk Engelland and Nic Hague were outworked down low on Colton Sissons’ tying goal 44 seconds into the second period, and Filip Forsberg took advantage of a turnover behind the net by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to put the Preadators ahead 4-2.
“Obviously, I think they put a lot of pressure on our D,” left wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “I think as a group of forwards we didn’t give enough quick options to our defensemen to get the puck out of the zone.”
3. Lamp lighter.
Smith has maintained an odd pattern throughout his career that he scores at least 20 goals in every season that ends in an even year.
He’s on pace to hit that barrier this season after matching Stone for the team lead with his fifth goal in seven games.
Smith has a shooting percentage of 23.8 percent, double his career number of 11.9 percent.
More Golden Knights: Follow at reviewjournal.com/GoldenKnights and @HockeyinVegas on Twitter.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.