All things considered, the Vegas Golden Knights had much to be thankful for as they dined on their Thanksgiving turkey.
Captain Mark Stone, who missed 16 games with a wrist injury, returned in Wednesday night’s loss against the Ottawa Senators and didn’t miss a beat, scoring a goal, delivering two hits and garnering three takeaways in almost 20 minutes (19:58) of time on ice.
Heading into Friday afternoon’s game with the Montreal Canadiens in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights are just one point behind the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks despite a disappointing home record (5-3-4) and a dreadful 1-8 record in games played beyond regulation.
The Golden Knights dropped their seventh straight extra-time affair Wednesday against the Senators as Shane Pinto scored the winner in the third round of the shootout. Linus Ullmark made 32 saves and stopped all three Vegas shootout attempts.
In a tightly bunched division where only four points separate first place and sixth place, the overtime struggles could come back to hurt Vegas’ playoff chances come April if things don’t improve soon.
“Obviously, overtime and the shootouts, it’s tough because these are points on the table for us that we’ve got to get back,” Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “We’ve got to figure that out, and we’ve got to start winning some of those games.”
Getting Stone back could help in that regard. The 33-year-old forward scored a power-play goal that tied it 3-3 midway through the third period and was his 14th point (three goals, 11 assists) in just seven games.
“Overall, felt pretty good,” said Stone, who had been sidelined since an Oct. 18 game against Calgary. “Been able to skate quite a bit (and) the legs started to go out a little bit at the end of the game, but overall felt great.”
Stone wasn’t too concerned with his team’s overtime and shootout woes.
“I think the last month we’ve played really good hockey,” Stone said. “Just haven’t been able to get over the hump. … As dumb as it sounds, we’ve just got to get the next goal. One point still helps you in the standings. We’ve just got to keep banking points and eventually it’ll turn for us.”
Montreal will be playing the second game of a three-game road trip that began with a 4-3 win at Utah on Wednesday. Nick Suzuki — a Vegas first-round pick in 2017 who was later traded to Montreal as part of the deal that brought Max Pacioretty to Vegas — had two goals and an assist, passing 400 career points in the process.
“I’m just trying to do my best out there,” Suzuki said. “Get to play with a lot of great players every single night and they’ve helped me get to where I am today. Definitely grateful for that.”
Suzuki’s power-play goal tied it 3-3 early in the third period and Ivan Demidov followed with what proved to be the game-winner at the 4:47 mark. Jakub Dobes made 31 saves for the Canadiens, who bring a two-game win streak into Friday’s game.
“The Demidov goal was a big goal,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “After that, we defended against a team that brings a lot of speed. We got the job done five against six. Dobes played an excellent game. Nothing was perfect, but we found our best.”
Montreal finishes the trip on Saturday afternoon in Denver against the NHL points leader Colorado.
–Field Level Media
