Golden Knights experiment at center with Stephenson out

The Golden Knights most important games of the year have featured a lot of experimenting at first-line center.

Tomas Nosek’s ended Friday’s Game 3 overtime loss against the Montreal Canadiens between left wing Max Pacioretty and right wing Mark Stone. With Chandler Stephenson nursing an upper-body injury, it was the fourth center the Knights’ highest-paid forwards have played with over the past two games.

Stone has no points in the NHL semifinal. Pacioretty has one assist.

Nosek was the latest player given a shot in that role after Alex Tuch started in the middle for the second time since he was a teenager. Coach Pete DeBoer said the switch from Tuch to Nosek was made for defensive reasons in the third period, but the change stayed in overtime.

“(Tuch) did a great job for us there, got us in a position where we were in a lead late in the third period,” DeBoer said. “Just from a defensive perspective, it made sense. And I wanted to see where (Nosek’s) legs were and energy was, and it was in a real good place, so that made it easy.”

Nosek was playing his first game since May 18 and spent most of his time at fourth-line center. He got back on the scoresheet quickly when he made a sharp pass behind his back along the wall in the defensive zone to spring Pacioretty and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo for a rush on which Pietrangelo scored.

That play, plus his strength on faceoffs and in the defensive zone, got him moved up in the third period. Tuch still did well in his new role. He went 1-for-4 on faceoffs, but the Knights had a 5-2 edge in scoring chances with him, Pacioretty and Stone on the ice at five-on-five.

Whether that gets Tuch another look at center remains to be seen. The Knights have had to try a lot of different combinations with Stephenson out, because his speed was so key to setting up Pacioretty and Stone.

“It’s not easy to create offense for top guys in the playoffs,” DeBoer said. “You’ve got to stick with it. I liked our game. I liked the looks we’re getting. Yes we’ve got to stick some more pucks in the net, but it’s not easy.”

Forward scoring

The Knights’ blue line continues to lead their offense against Montreal.

Six of the team’s eight goals in the series have come from defensemen. Third-line center Nicolas Roy and third-line left wing Mattias Janmark are the only forwards with goals for the Knights.

Things did start to balance out more in Game 3. Defensemen took only 13 of the Knights’ 45 shots on goal, after accounting for 35 of the team’s 61 the first two games of the series.

“We’re trending in the right direction but we’ve got to spend a little more time in their zone,” Janmark said. “Be a little bit hungrier in front but at the same time we’re doing a good job screening the goalie and got some goals from the D. We’ve got to get on the scoresheet a little more here.”

Comeback artists

The Knights can’t say they’ve never been in this position before.

They’re down 2-1 in their series to the Canadiens after also trailing in the first two rounds. They were down 1-0 to Minnesota and 2-0 to Colorado before rallying to win in seven and six games, respectively.

The Knights are confident they can do that again based on how they’ve played the first three games.

“I think (the Canadiens have) had little spurts the last couple games,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. “In Vegas, I thought the first periods they were good, they were fast. But once we got to our game, I think we can handle them no problem.”

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