Golden Knights All-Stars laugh after allowing quick goal

Pete DeBoer blamed Jonathan Marchessault for the Pacific Division All-Star team’s terrible opening shift Saturday.

Marchessault thought it was the Golden Knights coach’s fault.

“It was his decision to put us three out there, and it was not a good start,” Marchessault said tongue-in-cheek. “I can take a little bit of the blame, but you got to take some, too.”

Regardless of who was responsible, the Knights all had a good laugh about the unfortunate outcome of their time on the ice together at the start of the NHL All-Star Game.

Washington winger Tom Wilson, who was booed mercilessly all weekend by the crowd at T-Mobile Arena, scored on the Knights’ trio of all-stars 13 seconds into the Metropolitan Division’s 6-4 victory over the Pacific in the first semifinal.

“We were a little surprised, I guess. They came at us pretty quick,” Knights captain Mark Stone said. “I don’t think our goalie moved. I guess our team wasn’t quite ready to go like they were.”

Marchessault and Stone were joined by defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to form an all-Knights starting lineup for the Pacific in the first semifinal of the three-on-three tournament.

Stone lost the opening faceoff to Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov, and the Knights trio didn’t touch the puck until it was in the back of the net.

Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski played the puck to the right wing, and Wilson then found Kuznetsov cruising through the neutral zone. Kuznetsov carried it across the blue line and saucered a backhand pass through the slot that Pietrangelo and Stone could only watch.

Wilson collected the feed and fired a wrist shot past Anaheim goalie John Gibson before Stone could react.

The goal was the second-fastest in All-Star Game history. Rick Nash scored 12 seconds into the first period in 2008.

“I told them, let’s get off to a good start, and I think they got scored on 12 seconds in,” DeBoer said. “Marchy’s always on my (butt) about playing in overtime, so I think this is a clip I’ll make sure I’ll keep in the library for him.”

Marchessault said he didn’t know who was supposed to be covering Wilson on the play.

“I blacked out. I was just worried about not getting hit by Wilson there,” Marchessault said. “No, to be honest, I don’t know what happened. It came so quick. I know that me, Stoney and Petro were looking at each other, we were kind of shocked how quick it went in.”

Could it have been the Vegas Flu that led to the goal? Possibly.

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but that was probably due to late-night Vegas activities last night,” said DeBoer, who even admitted he was battling a hangover. “We worked our way into the game, and I thought it was an entertaining game.”

Marchessault scored with 7:03 remaining in the second half to cut the Metropolitan’s lead to 3-2 and had a buzzer-beater for his second goal waved off after review. He added an assist on Stone’s goal with 22 seconds remaining.

Stone put a scare into the home crowd when he nearly crashed into the end boards after getting upended at the end of a breakaway late in the first half. He also finished with two points in his first All-Star Game appearance.

Pietrangelo was credited with an assist on Stone’s goal.

“We only had a couple shifts together there until the end. They double shifted us,” Pietrangelo said. “It’s fun to share that with those guys.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.