Golden Knights relive ‘same old story’ in 1st period against Kings

Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant summarized it best.

“Same old story, isn’t it?” he said after his team’s 5-2 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

The loss hit a lot of familiar notes. The Knights got down early. They rallied. The same cycle occurred in their 5-4 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday and their 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

But Thursday’s opponent was of a different sort. The Blues are the defending Stanley Cup champions and the top team in the Western Conference. The Penguins, the 2016 and 2017 champs, are tied for the fourth-most points in the NHL.

The Kings are different. They’re 27th in the overall standings. They also played Wednesday and lost 2-1 at home to the Dallas Stars.

Yet somehow they were the aggressors early on at T-Mobile Arena and hounded the Knights in a dominant first period.

“Just weren’t ready to play,” left wing Max Pacioretty said. “Obviously, it’s one of those game where you’ve got to look yourself in the mirror and figure out why.”

The Knights certainly weren’t at their best early in the first period, but they looked fine. Through the first 10-plus minutes shots on goal were 9-5 in favor of the home team.

Then defenseman Alec Martinez changed everything.

He picked up a loose puck that defenseman Deryk Engelland deflected away from the net, and unleashed a slap shot from the left point. His rising shot beat goaltender Malcolm Subban glove-side for his first goal with 6:20 left in the first.

For the rest of the period, the Knights seemed shell-shocked. It took the Kings just 1:21 to score again.

Their second goal was much like their first. It featured a defenseman taking a slap shot from the left point — this time Ben Hutton — and besting Subban. Hutton was aided by a screen provided by teammate Adrian Kempe, who skated in front of Subban along with defenseman Nate Schmidt just before the shot arrived.

The Kings didn’t stop piling on. Next right wing Tyler Toffoli gathered the puck after a faceoff win by center Anze Kopitar and lasered it through traffic with 1:16 remaining. Subban likely never saw the puck.

The Kings finished their onslaught with perhaps the most egregious goal the Knights allowed. With time winding down in the first period, defenseman Matt Roy snapped his stick on a slap shot.

Center Mike Amadio grabbed the puck in front of the crease and moved to his right to sneak it past Subban. He couldn’t get the puck in the net, and instead it sat in the crease. Kempe beat everyone to the loose puck and knocked it in with four seconds left.

It was an inexcusable gaffe by the Knights. It ended a horrific frame for the home team, who played so poorly a 36-5 edge in shots on goal the final two periods wasn’t enough to save it from a humbling loss.

The Kings scored more goals in the first period than they did their entire first-round playoff series against the Knights in 2018. They had 13 of the final 14 shots on goal in the frame and coasted to victory from there.

“I think every guy has to be accountable,” Engelland said. “And know exactly how we need to play and come out ready to do that right off the drop of the puck.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.