Bruce Cassidy has talked about how there have been good pockets of hockey despite the Golden Knights' constant struggles. It's not a constant, 60-minute pocket, though. They come sporadically and by the time they arrive, the game is out of hand.
There were once again good stretches of hockey from the Golden Knights, but they once again found themselves in an early hole and it cost them again.
It took two goals in less than a minute for Vegas to lose its fourth straight game, and seventh in its last eight, in a 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.
The two backbreaking goals came early in the first period by way of consecutive Golden Knights penalties. Newcomer Anthony Mantha was called for a high-sticking double-minor 1:59 into the game, followed by roughing calls on Alex Pietrangelo and Keegan Kolesar.
That gave Vancouver a 5-on-3 for 14 seconds, and the first-place Canucks took advantage. Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes scored just as the two-man advantage expired at 6:01 for the 1-0 lead.
Phillip Di Giuseppe made it 2-0 55 seconds later. Shea Theodore misplayed a puck near the Vegas bench that sprung a 2-on-1, and Giuseppe's soft shot squeaked through Adin Hill's five-hole.
"We’re chasing the game. We take a penalty early, and then another one on top of it," Cassidy said. "So again, we’re behind."
Cassidy said the Canucks managed the game well from that point on. The Golden Knights struggled to break through the neutral zone for most of the night. The Canucks had a 15-2 edge in shots at one point and held a 31-17 edge through two periods.
Michael Amadio scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights at 3:50 of the second to cut the lead to 2-1 by way of a shot from the point. But the Canucks restored the lead back to two when Conor Garland scored off a defensive-zone turnover from Mason Morelli at 15:58.
On the surface, it was a better defensive effort from Vegas in its first game back home after a 1-3-1 East Coast road trip that was capped off by 18 goals given up in the final three games.
But the end result was the same. The Golden Knights (33-23-7) lost for the ninth time in 11 games and lost for the fifth straight time at home.
"I think guys are working hard and trying to play the right way," Theodore said. "Just a couple bounces here and there."
Those few bounces are costing the Golden Knights at the wrong times.
Thanks to the Nashville Predators' win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, the Golden Knights have dropped to the second wild card in the Western Conference with 19 games to play. They hold a six-point lead over the Calgary Flames, Seattle Kraken and St. Louis Blues.
Vegas was in second place in the Pacific Division one month ago on Feb. 7 — the day after it ended the Edmonton Oilers' 16-game winning streak.
General manager Kelly McCrimmon has acted accordingly in the past 48 hours prior to Friday's trade deadline by acquiring Mantha and defenseman Noah Hanifin. Both made their debuts Thursday; Mantha had no shots on goal in 15:14, while Hanifin was second among defenseman playing 21:33 on the top pair with Alex Pietrangelo.
The expectation is McCrimmon will make one more addition prior to noon Friday, but it may go beyond more additions.
"We have to start digging in after the first negative thing to happen to us, bounce back and get through that." Cassidy said. :And we haven’t been able to do that."
The Golden Knights will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, 30 minutes before the deadline. What happens in that small buildup could be something that alters the Golden Knights for the rest of the season.
With 19 games left, and a playoff spot slipping away, there's not a lot of time to figure it out.
"It’s a long season. You get stretches like that. You’ve got to get out of it as quick as possible," forward Nic Roy said. "We’ve been in it for a long time now."
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on X at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.