Golden Knights’ improved play overshadowed by loss to Canadiens

Jonathan Marchessault’s emotional thermometer naturally runs on the warm side and did so again Thursday after the Golden Knights blew a two-goal lead in the third period of a 5-4 overtime loss to Montreal.

The left wing held his team accountable for the dropped point and its recent run of inconsistent play, an opinion that ran somewhat counter to coach Gerard Gallant’s assertion that the Knights played well enough to win against the Canadiens.

A day later, Marchessault started to come around. A little bit.

“I understand what Gerard was saying when he wasn’t agreeing with me and stuff,” Marchessault said after Friday’s practice at City National Arena. “Yes, we can get some positives out of that game. But there’s no reason why we didn’t get two points there.

“We still played well. We didn’t play that bad, but the end result is not what we expected.”

While Marchessault fretted the outcome, many of his teammates joined Gallant on the other end of the spectrum in taking a more pragmatic view.

Coupled with Sunday’s dismantling of Anaheim, there were enough positives against Montreal for the Knights to feel as if they’re close to turning a corner.

They’ll get a better idea of where they stand Saturday when they host the slumping Winnipeg Jets at T-Mobile Arena.

“There was a couple lapses where the puck ended up in the back of our net off weird bounces, but I think we played a good, solid game,” assistant captain Reilly Smith said. “I think for right now, the biggest factor for our group is just playing with a high tempo and working hard, and I think we’ve done that the last few games.

“You’re not always going to get the perfect result, but I think if you put in the work, more times than not it’ll work out for you.”

Against Montreal, the Knights overcame another slow start and showed the necessary resolve to go ahead 4-2 on goals by Cody Glass and Mark Stone in the first 7:59 of the third period.

But the Knights tried to sit back and protect the lead, while Montreal continued to press despite being on the second game of a back to back.

That erased all the good work the Knights did in the first 53 minutes.

“I think that when you’re kind of a team that’s kind of being hunted because you’re being looked at as one of the better teams, you’re going to get the ‘A’ game from every team coming in here or when we’re playing teams,” defenseman Nick Holden said. “If you’re not on your game for 60 minutes, you’re going to get beat because the NHL’s too tight.”

The Knights (8-5-1) have allowed four or more goals in all of their losses and alternated wins and losses at home (4-3-1). They lost their fourth game at home last season Nov. 16 and weren’t handed their fourth regulation home loss until Jan. 10.

But with the return of defenseman Nate Schmidt and right wing Alex Tuch to the lineup against the Canadiens, Smith was confident the results would start to come for the Knights.

“We’ve just got to keep our foot on the gas and keep pushing because work ethic and playing fast, those are the biggest factors for us in winning,” Smith said. “Results aren’t always going to be there, but whatever gets you there, you just have to stick to that. I think we have the right makeup here, we’ve just got to stick to the process.”

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