Vegas blow lead, lose, 4-3, to Penguins

In Pittsburgh, Jack Eichel and Reilly Smith scored for the Vegas Golden Knights in the first period for a 23-0 lead on Thursday. It didn’t end well.“They were quicker than us tonight,” Smith said. “It’s a little bit of a wakeup call. We’ve got to do a better job just upping the tempo, especially when you play a team like Pittsburgh. They’re good at starts. We knew that coming in. We just didn’t answer well enough.”

The Penguins rallied for a 4-3 win on a late strike from Kasperi Kapanen .

“Forward,” Kapanen said on where he goes from here. “We’ve got to get better too. I thought we played a pretty good game, but I think there’s still room to improve.”

Tristan Jarry made 34 saves in the Pens win.

Brock McGinn scored in the second period to get the Pens within one, 2-1.

“I thought the guys competed really hard all night,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “They didn’t get discouraged when we got down a couple of goals early in the game. We just kept playing. There was a lot of the game we really liked.

“I think, when we’re at our best, our puck-pursuit game is relentless. We just kept playing the game. There were some lead changes, or whatever may be. But I loved the mindset, just kind of next-play attitude, next-shift attitude.”

Vegas dropped to 17-7-1.

“We’re in Pittsburgh, they’re [five-time] Stanley Cup champions,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Down 2-0, they’re having an uneven year. They’re going to come and have a push.

“It’s been acknowledged, but we have some veteran guys in the room that have to say, ‘Hey, it’s coming. So make sure we’re ready.'”