The Golden Knights, following one of their worst defensive performances of the year, begin a four-game road trip Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Golden Knights were pleased with their starts.
Their four-game winning streak was built on coming out of the gates strong. They did it in different ways, too. They scored five first-period goals against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 27 before blanking their next three opponents — the New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins — in the opening frame.
The Knights didn’t do anything well to begin their 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. They fell behind 2-0 after 20 minutes and allowed goaltender Adin Hill to face 16 shots.
Coach Bruce Cassidy said the Knights were simply not competitive in the first period Sunday. That’s something the team needs to fix as it begins a four-game road trip against the Penguins on Tuesday.
“Our puck play, we’ve had our ups and downs, but not particularly to the point of (Sunday),” Cassidy said. “We’re typically better than that. I believe that will take care of itself.”
Opportunity presented
The Knights’ upcoming trip has some winnable games as well as some challenges.
The team will play four times in five days. Three of its opponents — the Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings — are out of a playoff spot. The other one, the Columbus Blue Jackets, holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Knights face the Blue Jackets on Thursday and then have a back-to-back with the Sabres and Red Wings on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The condensed schedule means both of the team’s goaltenders could get two starts this week. That means more opportunities for Ilya Samsonov to build off his last performance Friday, a 22-save shutout against Pittsburgh.
Samsonov has struggled since the beginning of January, going 6-5-1 with an .869 save percentage in that stretch.
Hang on to the biscuit
Cassidy called Sunday the Knights’ “worst game of the season in terms of puck management.”
The team had 21 giveaways, tied for its seventh-most in a game this year. Defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Noah Hanifin had five each.
Cassidy said turnovers are going to happen, but the mistakes the Knights made caused them to trail 3-0 against the Kings early in the second period.
“It’s hard when you put yourself in a hole, especially against a good team like this,” center Nicolas Roy said. “Every turnover or puck we didn’t get in deep … you have to avoid turnovers, for sure.”
Cassidy was also disappointed with the Knights’ defending. The team clawed back in the second period to cut its deficit to 3-2, but then defenseman Nic Hague was caught flat-footed in the neutral zone. That allowed Los Angeles left wing Warren Foegele to score 1:09 before the second intermission to push the Kings’ lead to 4-2.
“We scored a couple and then we give up an easy goal,” Hertl said. “We have to learn from it.”
Sticking to what worked
The Knights kept fighting despite that setback, ultimately getting within a goal with 2:12 remaining. They’ll need to take that resiliency on the road with them.
“We showed how good we are. We never quit,” Hertl said. “Even when it wasn’t looking good, we came back, put pucks behind them, hold the puck, make plays.”
Cassidy said he feels Sunday was a one-off and can be corrected. That will require the Knights to be ready to go when the puck drops in the first period, especially on the road when any success the home team has can fuel the crowd.
“Hopefully they just take it to heart. It could be a humbling game. I didn’t see this one coming. It’s not who we are,” Cassidy said. “Being ready to play at 7 o’clock on Tuesday will be the talking point because that hurt us.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
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