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WASHINGTON – Four times in the season, the Vegas Golden Knights find themselves torn between the desire to turn the page from last season and the attempt to pick up the winning formula that helped them make last season so special.
A 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals in a rematch of the 2018 Stanley Cup final at Capital One Arena on Wednesday did not resolve this dilemma. On the contrary, it served as a painful reminder of the end of last season and the repetition of what they did last season will be difficult.
"It's tough," said Gerard Gallant, Golden Knights coach. "It's a battle every game, and at the beginning of the season you sometimes make mistakes that you do not usually make when you leave, but overall it's a battle."
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Until now, each match has been unique for the Golden Knights. By scoring 1-3-0 in their first four games, they have not scored more than two goals. Their only win was a 2-1 shootout win at Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
The win began with a five-game road trip that continues Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the PPG Paints Arena (7 pm EST, SNN, SNE, SNO, ATTSN-PT, ATTSN-RM and NHL.TV) and ends against the Philadelphia Flyers. Saturday.
Going 1-2-0 in the first three games of this trip was not what the Golden Knights had in mind when leaving Las Vegas.
"It's a long year and we have to find a quick fix," said defender Shea Theodore. "Our goal is this road trip you want to be a .500 team, and when we play like that, it will not happen, we have to find solutions and find our game."
All went smoothly for the Golden Knights at the start of their inaugural season, a year ago, when they won eight of their first nine games. Although they slid 1-4-1 after the goaltenders Marc-André Fleury and Malcolm Subban injured, they quickly recovered and set NHL records for an expansion team with 51 wins and 109 points, eight points ahead of the Anaheim Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division.
Video: Tanguay and Reid on the bad start for the Golden Knights
Their unlikely course continued in the playoffs of the Stanley Cup. They lost three games before becoming the first team to expand since the St. Louis Blues of 1967-1968 to reach the Stanley Cup final. That's of course when they faced the Capitals, who won four straight wins after losing 6-4 in the first game, winning the five-part series and ending Golden Knight's dreams. Cups.
It was also the first time that they were losing more than three times in a season. Before sinking 5-2 to Philadelphia in the opening game of this season, they had never beaten a record.
This slow start is therefore a new type of adversity.
"It's early, but we still have not played as we wanted every night," Fleury said. "That said, I think tonight was a little better, but we have to keep moving to where we want to be."
Fleury was one of the few Knights of Gold to have declared that he was eager to get another chance at the Capitals. In contrast, one of Gallant's pre-game posts concerned the departure of last season and the worry of it.
"Last year was fantastic, the Stanley Cup [Final] It was great, but you have to try to get points now, "said Gallant.
The Golden Knights have mostly the same team, but there have been some important changes. Before James Neal (Calgary Flames) and David Perron (St. Louis Blues), and defenseman Luca Sbisa (New York Islanders) left as unrestricted free agents, and the center signed Vegas Paul Stastny and defender Nick Holden as unrestricted free agents and eventually acquired Max Pacioretty in an exchange with the Montreal Canadiens.
Stastny is absent on Wednesday and will be away for at least two more games with a lower-body injury. The Golden Knights continued to play without defender Nate Schmidt, who was suspended for the first 20 games of the regular season for breaching the terms of the NHLPA / NHLPA performance-enhancing substance program.
The absence of Schmidt was noticed and was again Wednesday with the failures of the defensive zone that led to goals. The Golden Knights did good things and controlled the game during stretching, but made enough mistakes to be losers at a party when Washington Evgeny Kuznetsov dominated in a four-point performance (one goal, three assists), Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and goalkeeper Braden Holtby makes 29 stops.
Video: VGK @ WSH: Smith hits Holden's pass
That did not help that the Golden Knights are 0-to-3 on the power play, and are 0-to-11 on the season, while the Capitals have 2-to-4 with the best of the world. advantage of the man. Vegas was not lucky with the puck either, with Ryan Carpenter, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Colin Miller hit the post on the chances of scoring quality.
Throw an unauthorized Pacioretty goal while it was 6:11 left to do in the third period, which would reduce the Capitals' lead to 4-3, which was canceled after the challenge. a coach because Pacioretty was offside and the frustration of the Golden Knights was understandable. Even if it's only four games, they feel the urgent need to change things quickly.
"The faster will be the better" Cody Eakin I said. "You want to win the victories earlier, you do not want to run after the break from the stars or the trade deadline, so we're going back to work tomorrow and starting from there."
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