On The Strip, the Vegas Golden Knights’ struggles continued on Thursday night in a 4-1 loss to the visiting Florida Panthers.
The Knights took an early 1-0 lead on a marker from Pavel Dorofeyev with four minutes gone in the game.
From there it was all Panthers.
“I liked our start. We were ready to play and had some good looks,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Probably could have had more than a one-goal lead. That’s OK. I mean, Bobrovsky is a good goaltender. He is going to make saves.”
Two power play goals erased the deficit and gave the Panther a 2-1 lead.
Sam Bennett picked up the first of the two power play goals at 14:15 of the opening stanza for a 1-1 tie headed to the middle frame.
Matthew Tkachuk hit for the second power play strike at 6:15 of the middle frame for a 2-1 lead to the Panthers.
“One of my favorite games of the year,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “They come out hot. We’re behind it. First we got to right the ship. (The) power-play goal is important. Then you lose two-thirds of your top line. … The best part of the game was the bench, because they were up against it. They were cheering for each other. They’re pulling for each other. Just fun to be behind the bench.”
The Panthers improved to 24-12-2.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves in the win.
Vegas dropped to 22-12-5 off their sixth loss in the last seven matches.
“We got to start playing harder,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “Right now, we need to simplify the game. Everybody’s got to play better. Twenty guys have to play better.”
Carter Verhaeghe pushed the advantage to 3-1 at 18:38 of the second off a rebound.
“He’s got a nose for the net,” Tkachuk said of Verheaghe. “I really enjoy playing with him. What’s underrated is his passing ability. I love playing to the opposite wing as him. We seem to find each other a lot. Hopefully our chemistry continues to build.”
Reinhart potted his 25th of the campaign at 5:23 of the third period for the 4-1 final count.
“There’s no secret we don’t like these guys for what happened last year (in the Stanley Cup Final). That’s human nature,” Tkachuk said. “Especially coming into this building where our team has not had success as of late and just really wanting to beat a team that kind of ruined our summer last year. I thought the two games that we played them have been two of our best of the season.”
Reinhart was named to the All Star roster earlier in the day.
“So well deserving with it,” Tkachuk said. “I’m very happy for Sam. He’s going to have so much fun up there, especially with it being his first one. I’m shocked that it’s his first one, to be honest. Hopefully he has an unreal time. He’s so well deserving of it.”
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Logan Thompson made 32 saves in the loss.
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