Florida Panthers vs. Vegas Golden Knights Pick & Prediction JANUARY 12th 2023
The Vegas Golden Knights will try to rebound from what head coach Bruce Cassidy called their most disappointing game of the season when they host the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Vegas leads the Pacific Division with 56 points thanks in part to a 13-2-0 start to the season. But the Golden Knights have won just 14 of their 27 games since (14-11-2) and suddenly find themselves in a dogfight with the Los Angeles Kings and the Seattle Kraken for first place.
Vegas has had four days and two practices to try and regroup after an ugly 5-1 home loss to the Kings on Saturday night. All-Star goalie Logan Thompson was pulled after two periods after yielding three goals on 19 shots. Jonathan Marchessault scored his 15th goal of the season with 2:18 remaining to avoid the shutout.
The Golden Knights finished with only 20 shots on goal, including just four in the second period. Kevin Fiala scored a hat trick for the Kings.
Seth Cohen
"It was probably the most disappointing game of the year for us when I look at our competitiveness from top to bottom," Cassidy said.
Cassidy was especially upset with his team's effort around the net and promised to put his team through "combat" drills in the practices heading into Thursday's game.
"Once we fell behind, I don't think we had the bite in us to get back in the game," Cassidy said. "The will. The compete. Whatever adjective you want to use."
"I still like the way we're playing," captain Mark Stone said. "This was just one of our not-so-great performances this season, but you're going to have those, right? You just can't let them repeat themselves. The good teams, they have one stinker and then they get back on the saddle and they get it going."
Vegas will try to rebound against a Florida team that has had roller-coaster start to the season. The Panthers got back to the .500 mark (19-19-4, 42 points) with a 5-4 victory over defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado on Tuesday in Denver.
Florida blew a 4-1 third-period lead in the win but the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners still pulled out the victory thanks to Matthew Tkachuk's power-play goal with 3:30 remaining in regulation. Tkachuk tried to jam three shots past goaltender Alexandar Georgiev and was credited with the game-winner when Colorado defenseman Cale Makar tried to clear the crease, but instead sent the puck into the net off the skate of Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues.
"Hopefully this win, the way it happened, can give us full confidence that the second half (of the season) is going to be different for us," Tkachuk said.
Tkachuk had two goals in the contest to extend his point streak to four games (five goals, three assists). He became the third Panther in history to hit the 50-point mark (22 goals, 29 assists) in 39 or fewer games, joining Pavel Bure (34 games in 1999-00) and Jonathan Huberdeau, who did it in 37 games last season and in 38 games in 2019-20.
"Wouldn't expect it from anyone else," forward Sam Bennett said of Tkachuk's game-winner. "He's scored big goals for us all year, and there's another one."
Florida has won three of its last four games and has closed to within six points of Pittsburgh for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"That was a big win for us," Bennett said. "It was an emotional game, letting them back in it in the third. We managed to find a way to win, and that's all that matters."
--Field Level Media
Florida Panthers vs. Vegas Golden Knights Recap JAN 12TH 2023
William Carrier scored with 2:36 remaining to break a tie as the Vegas Golden Knights scored three times in the third period to pull out a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Carrier redirected a Keegan Kolesar pass while crashing into Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for his 11th goal of the season. Florida challenged the score for goaltender interference, but it was determined that Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour had helped shove Carrier into Bobrovsky and the goal stood, earning Florida a delay of game penalty.
The Panthers still pulled Bobrovsky for an extra attacker, but the Golden Knights' William Karlsson scored a power-play empty-netter with 1:07 left to seal the win.
Jack Eichel and Nicolas Roy also scored for Vegas and Kolesar had two assists for Vegas, which moved into first place in the Pacific Division. Adin Hill finished with 37 saves.
Sam Reinhart and Nick Cousins scored for Florida while Bobrovsky stopped 29 of 32 shots.
Florida took a 1-0 lead at the 2:02 mark of the first period when Cousins swept in a rebound of an Aaron Ekblad shot that caromed off the right post and across the crease. The puck went into the net just as the goal was being dislodged by Eric Staal, but after several minutes analyzing replays, officials determined Vegas defenseman Ben Hutton had knocked Staal into the right post and let the score stand.
The Golden Knights tied it early in the second when Kolesar forced a turnover along the left boards and fed Roy at the bottom of the right circle, where he snapped a shot past Bobrovsky's glove for his eighth goal of the season.
Florida regained the lead later in the period on a power-play goal by Reinhart. Matthew Tkachuk set up the score with a pass from the right goal line to Reinhart in the slot. Reinhart then one-timed a shot through the pads of Hill, who had lost his stick earlier in the play, for his 13th goal of the season and first in 10 games.
The Panthers briefly made it 3-1 a few minutes later on a sharp-angle goal by Anton Lundell off Hill's shoulder, but the goal was overturned after Vegas successfully challenged that the play was offside.
Shortly after killing a five-on-three power play that lasted 1:43 early in the third period, the Golden Knights tied it 2-2 when Eichel scored his 15th goal of the season on a breakaway.
Vegas forward Mark Stone left the game midway through the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.
--Field Level Media
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