Undermanned Golden Knights lose to Maple Leafs in shootout

Thanks to two postponements later in the week, the Golden Knights now have an unexpected five-day break in the schedule.

They can use it to regroup and get healthy.

Playing with a depleted lineup, the Knights rallied in the third period but lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 17,911 at T-Mobile Arena.

“I loved big parts of our game,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “That’s a great team over there that has been running through a lot of teams offensively. We stumbled a little bit at first, but I think we gave them nine shots after the first period.”

After opening their extended homestand with a victory, the Knights have lost four of the past five games (1-2-2) and face the scorching-hot Penguins on Monday. Pittsburgh has won 11 of 12 after beating Anaheim on Tuesday.

The Knights trailed 3-1 entering the third period but made a strong push in the final 20 minutes. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo’s goal during a five-on-three power play with 8:12 remaining evened the score after center William Karlsson scored early in the period.

But Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell turned away all three attempts in the shootout. William Nylander had the lone successful attempt for Toronto.

Knights goalie Robin Lehner, whose troubles in the shootout are well documented, suffered his first loss in three tries this season.

“You always want the two points, but I’m very happy how we battled back,” Lehner said. “Throughout the whole season, especially beginning of the season. We’re battling through a lot of guys out. A lot of our core players and everyone’s stepping up throughout the whole season. It’s a huge point with nine regulars out of our lineup.”

Here are three takeaways from the game:

1. More regulars missing

The bottom-six forward group took a hit before the game, as centers Nicolas Roy and Nolan Patrick and defenseman Shea Theodore entered NHL COVID-19 protocol.

Also, winger William Carrier was a scratch because of an upper-body injury. He left Saturday’s game against Chicago in the first period.

With Theodore unavailable, and Nic Hague (wrist) and Alec Martinez (upper body/COVID protocol) still sidelined, the Knights had a surplus of right-shot defensemen. As a result, Pietrangelo shifted to the left side and skated with Zach Whitecloud.

Center Jake Leschyshyn, right wing Jonas Rondbjerg and defenseman Daniil Miromanov were called up to fill their roster spots.

“Pretty proud of our group,” DeBoer said. “Our guys battled their (butts) off. I thought once we got through the first period, it took us 20 minutes to get up to speed and realize we can’t turn the puck over against this team and give them odd-man rushes. The last 40-plus minutes, I loved our game.”

2. Special teams victory

The Knights can thank their power-play and penalty-killing units for rescuing a point.

The power play finished 2-for-5 against the Maple Leafs’ fifth-ranked PK, including Pietrangelo’s tying goal during a five-on-three advantage.

With the Knights battling injuries, winger Keegan Kolesar earned time at the net-front position and was left alone for a power-play goal in the first period that tied the score 1-1.

“Down a couple guys, got the opportunity to play some more minutes in more key roles. Just want to take advantage,” Kolesar said. “The motto is the next guy up. Whatever it is. Injury. COVID. Whatever it may be, we’re all stepping up and helping each other out.”

The Knights held Toronto’s dangerous power play without a goal on its two chances. The Maple Leafs came in leading the league at 30.9 percent on the power play.

3. Unfriendly confines

DeBoer was in no mood to talk about the team’s struggles at home.

But the shootout loss dropped the Knights to 12-9-2 at T-Mobile Arena, where they went 21-5-2 last season and have a .679 all-time points percentage since entering the league.

”Sometimes that’s just how it goes. Sometimes there’s years where it’s the opposite,” said Pietrangelo, who logged a season-high 32:30 of ice time. “We’ll take that one point on a strong effort, reset the brain and the body and come back next week.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.