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Vegas Golden Knights at New York Rangers
The Vegas Golden Knights, hoping for a win on this road trip, head to New York to take on the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Bruce Cassidy would succeed at writing the fortunes inside fortune cookies.
"Frustration is a useless emotion," said the Golden Knights' coach.
Useless as it may be, written by Confucius or not, it's hard for the Golden Knights to not feel frustrated after losing once again on Friday, this time a 4-1 defeat to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Golden Knights (29-18-3) lost for the sixth time in seven games (1-5-1) with the offense failing to generate much scoring. Vegas was held to two goals or less for the fifth time in six games. Phil Kessel scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights.
It's no coincidence that captain Mark Stone has been out of the lineup due to a back injury during the Golden Knights's cold streak — a sixth loss in seven games. Losing Stone takes away Vegas' lone net-front presence, a major reason for the offense's struggles.
Vegas has been outscored 24-12 in the last seven games.
"We're getting good chances. We're just not finishing," Carrier said.
The Golden Knights did get some healthy bodies back in the lineup with defenseman Shea Theodore returning after missing six weeks with a knee injury, and William Carrier missing the past five games with an upper-body injury.
It didn't make a difference.
Carrier did have an assist on Kessel's goal, but Theodore was a minus-3 in 22:14.
Adin Hill finished with 36 saves and made some important stops to keep his team in the game. He went stride for stride against veteran Jaroslav Halak, who finished with 33 saves.
But Hill was fighting uphill from the first period.
The Golden Knights dictated play for the first 10 minutes of the game while Hill was strong in net, but the game was doomed by two turnovers that led to two New York goals.
Chris Kreider opened the scoring at 16:08 of the first when Brayden McNabb cycled the puck around the net to Paul Cotter, but it bounced off his stick. Vincent Trocheck had put a backhand on net that Kreider deflected for the goal.
Trocheck got a goal of his own with 43 seconds left in the opening frame on a one-timer from Barclay Goodrow, making it 2-0.
Kessel cut the lead in half at 4:57 of the second when he banked a puck off Halak below the goal line, but that was the only offense Vegas could generate.
That lone goal came from the third line in another game in which the Golden Knights' top six were quiet. Jack Eichel has not scored in seven games, and he has just one assist in that stretch. Jonathan Marchessault has gone eight games without a goal. Chandler Stephenson hasn't scored in nine games. Reilly Smith has not found the back of the net in 11 games.
"I don't know what it is, to be honest," Marchessault said. "I think everybody needs to look at themselves in the mirror, how you look at your game. I think we've got to play a little bit more inside. Sometimes goals are not always the prettiest, but they still count. It doesn't matter who it is, who you're playing with. If it's your turn to get inside and get in front of the net, you've got to do it. Winning hurts sometimes."
The Golden Knights went from playing one of their better games in some time on Tuesday against New Jersey, to not crashing the net and figuring out how to score against a team that did not play its Vezina Trophy winner today.
Vegas plays its final game before the All-Star break tomorrow against the New York Islanders (4 p.m., ATTSN-RM). If they don't figure it out for one night against a struggling Islanders team, it's bound to be a long break.
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.