3 takeaways from Knights’ loss: Stars stymie late chances

Even after a second period in which they were dominated in every category, the Golden Knights still had chances at the end.

But the Knights had to dig themselves out of another hole after surrendering three goals in the second period, which ended up deciding a 4-3 loss to the Stars on Friday at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

And did the Knights ever have their chances.

They had two opportunities with an extra skater in the final minute to tie it. Stars center Colin Blackwell made a diving pokecheck as the puck made its way to captain Mark Stone for a potential one-timer.

Stone, who had three assists, had an open net to shoot at.

Then with 22.3 seconds left, Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger stretched with his glove to rob right wing Pavel Dorofeyev’s backhand-to-forehand attempt in tight to make a save-of-the-year candidate.

“That’s a big save,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It would’ve been nice to see that one go in and see if we could play for another point, but it didn’t happen.”

The end result is the Knights (30-15-4) splitting their road back-to-back after winning 4-2 in St. Louis on Thursday. That ended their four-game losing streak, but the Knights dropped to 2-6-1 in their past nine games.

Center Jack Eichel scored twice and defenseman Shea Theodore added a power-play goal, but goaltender Adin Hill allowed four goals on 27 shots.

Hill has allowed 11 goals in his past three starts.

“We’re finding ourselves in the losing column a little too much lately,” Eichel said. “We don’t want this to continue the way it’s going.”

The Knights didn’t start like a team playing the second night of a back-to-back. Cassidy hoped they’d start on time, and they did. Eichel opened the scoring at 4:04 with a power-play goal.

Dallas (30-17-1) got one back on the man advantage on a deflection from center Roope Hintz at 6:19 to tie the game.

The Stars took over in the middle frame.

They tacked on three goals in the period — two from winger Jason Robertson — and two came in a span of 1:36 between Robertson and Dallas captain Jamie Benn.

Theodore scored at 8:57 — 1:26 after Robertson’s first goal — to tie it 2-2.

The Stars outshot the Knights 15-5 in the period and dominated in shot attempts (36-11), scoring chances (16-5) and high-danger chances (5-2).

“We just got outcompeted in front of our net,” Eichel said. “It was just that middle period that didn’t go our way, and it ended up costing us.”

The Knights went the first 9:46 of the third period without a shot on goal, but broke through on Eichel’s second goal at 10:35 on a rebound after Brayden McNabb’s shot hit the crossbar.

Cassidy agreed with Eichel’s assessment. The Knights got outbattled in front to the point where they were swimming upstream.

Five-on-five play was also an issue. Dallas out-attempted the Knights 63-43, and all three second-period goals came at even strength.

“I don’t think we generated nearly enough,” Cassidy said. “We didn’t get inside to do that. We played a lot of perimeter hockey. Eventually, you have to arrive inside, get some chances there. We didn’t do that well enough.”

Cassidy has emphasized “putting out fires” when opponents get rolling offensively. The second period was another one that the Knights took too long to put out.

“Just too many lulls in our game for extended periods of time,” right wing Keegan Kolesar said. “It’s OK to have one or two shifts, but it can’t be six, seven minutes, whatever it may be.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Howden returns

Center Brett Howden returned to the lineup after an illness kept him out of Thursday’s game.

Skating on the fourth line with Tanner Pearson and Tanner Laczynski, Howden went 7-of-8 in the faceoff circle and was a minus-1 in 11:36.

Cassidy elected to play Laczynski on the wing with Alexander Holtz being a healthy scratch for the second time in three games.

2. Theodore stays hot

Two games removed from his first career four-assist game, Theodore is inching closer to sealing the best season of his career.

The defenseman’s goal gave him 11 points in his past seven games, including his first four-assist game Monday.

Theodore is fourth among defensemen in scoring with 44 points, eight shy of tying his career high from 2021-22. He’s quietly putting together a sneaky resume for the Norris Trophy, though he faces stiff competition with Cale Makar, Zach Werenski and Quinn Hughes each over 50 points.

3. Champs up next

The Knights begin their final homestand before the 4 Nations Face-Off on Sunday against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

It won’t be the easiest three-game stretch. After the last two Cup champions play on Sunday, the Knights and Stars will meet again Tuesday. The surging and surprising Columbus Blue Jackets will visit T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.