Vegas coach Peter DeBoer didn’t sugarcoat the situation after the Golden Knights dropped a 3-1 decision Friday night to an Arizona team that has the worst record in the Western Conference.
“We don’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves,” DeBoer said.
Not with a home game against the NHL’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche, set for Saturday night.
The Golden Knights, who had a chance to close to within one point of first-place Calgary in the Pacific Division, instead dropped behind the Los Angeles Kings into third place, just three points ahead of both Edmonton and Anaheim.
Suddenly, a team that was supposed to cruise to a Pacific title finds itself sputtering and in a real battle to just make the playoffs.
“There wasn’t a lot to like,” said forward Reilly Smith. “These are games you can’t lose, and especially this time of year. It’s pretty costly. We have to turn the page quickly.”
Vegas is just 4-4-2 over its last 10 games and has surprisingly struggled on home ice, going just 14-11-3.
Smith was asked if the Golden Knights may have overlooked the Coyotes, who have 48 fewer points and 24 less wins than Colorado. The Avalanche became the first team to hit the 80-point mark with a 6-3 comeback victory over Winnipeg on Friday night.
“I don’t think so, but I guess watching the game, you can have your doubts about that,” Smith said. “I think we didn’t play smart enough. We were leaving the zone too early, giving them odd-man chances and didn’t play desperate enough I think.”
Already missing several key players, including captain Mark Stone and starting goaltender Robin Lehner, Vegas also lost left wing Max Pacioretty to what appeared to be a left arm injury late in the second period. Center Mattias Janmark also left the contest early with an undisclosed injury. Leading goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Dylan Coghlan both missed the game with the flu.
Colorado, meanwhile, rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to score six consecutive goals against 2020 Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck.
Gabe Landeskog led the way with his fifth career hat trick while Nathan MacKinnon, back from a minor lower body injury, added two goals on a career-high 14 shots on goal. Mikko Rantanen chipped in with three assists.
“A 3-0 hole is hard to come out of, but I felt we were doing some good things and creating some chances,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of his team’s 16th comeback win of the season. “We knew if we corrected a few things on the defensive side of that, that we’d continue to get some of those chances.”
Landeskog, who now has 28 goals this season, has scored 14 goals over his last 14 games.
“You learn pretty early on, sometimes in this league, (goals) come in bunches,” Landeskog said. “And sometimes when they’re going in for you, you want to keep doing what’s working for you, and for me that’s going to the net and trying to get my stick on the puck and deflect pucks.”
This is the third meeting between the two teams. Vegas won the first one, 3-1, in Denver on Oct. 26. The Avalanche, on third period goals by Landeskog and Rantanen, won 2-0 in Las Vegas on Feb. 16 to spoil the debut of Jack Eichel.
–Field Level Media
