In a game should have been an easy two points, the Vegas Golden Knights lost on Monday, 3-2, to the New Jersey Devils and lost two points in the Western Conference playoff chase.
Andrew Hammond made 42 saves in the New Jersey win.
“It’s special,” Hammond said. “I’m starting to get back to the way I know I can play. … The most important thing is just how desperate we played. We knew we were going to play a desperate team. You saw guys diving and blocking shots. As a goaltender, that’s all you can ask for.”
Nathan Bastian, Andreas Johnsson , and Jesper Boqvist scored for the New Jersey.
“I really liked the desperation,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “The blocked shots. The five guys around the paint. The saves we got from our goaltender. Guys were standing up on the bench and were excited every time [Hammond] made a save or somebody blocked a shot.”
Keegan Kolesar scored for the Golden Knights.
Vegas has five games left on their slate.
“We got to win them all. It’s pretty simple, we got to win them all,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “Circumstances have put us in a situation here where we have no margin of error. That’s a tough way to play. … The work in what has happened all year and what has happened the whole year has put us in a spot where we don’t have the luxury to relax and play loose this time of the year. We don’t have that. We’ve got to make sure we handle that and find a way to stick some pucks in the net.”
They need help.
Chandler Stephenson scored for Vegas with the extra attacker on the ice with under two minutes to play in the third period.
Robin Lehner made 25 saves in the Vegas loss.
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