Vegas let a victory slip away on Saturday but the Golden Knights don’t have much time to lament their shootout loss. They have to refocus for a Sunday matinee at Detroit.
Vegas allowed a Rasmus Dahlin goal with 14 seconds remaining in regulation, then lost to Buffalo in a shootout, 4-3.
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was irritated with Tomas Hertl, who could have scored an empty-netter in the final minute. He instead tried to pass it to Jack Eichel, which led to a turnover.
“I’d like to see him shoot the puck in the net and end the game,” Cassidy said. “That’s what I’d like to see. I think the whole team would like to see that.”
Vegas, which has lost three of its last four games, is wrapping up a four-game road trip. The Golden Knights have gone 1-0-2 on the trip, with an overtime loss in Pittsburgh and a shutout victory over Columbus.
They had a 2-0 lead on the Sabres on Saturday.
“I think we were kind of sloppy at times,” forward Victor Olofsson said. “We played a simple game early, I think that kind of worked for us, (but) then we got away from it. I mean obviously we’ve said it before — they have some skill on the team and they can make plays. I think that’s what happened.”
Eichel scored in the third period, increasing his team-high point total to 80. Pavel Dorofeyev scored his 27th goal, tying him for the team lead with Hertl.
The Red Wings have lost seven of their last eight games. They couldn’t recover from a poor second-period performance in a 4-2 road loss to Carolina on Friday. Detroit let up three goals during the period.
“The second period was unacceptable,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “It wasn’t just Carolina-inflicted, it was self-inflicted. Just some really dumb play on our behalf. We had a little chat between the second and third and found a way to push a little more, but obviously not enough.”
Michael Rasmussen scored a third-period goal to make it 3-2 but the Red Wings were unable to come up with a tying goal before the Hurricanes scored an empty-netter.
“Too much of a rollercoaster (Friday),” team captain Dylan Larkin said. “A lot of what they got in the second (period) we gave them, and in the third we were rolling them and were the better team.”
Every loss makes it less likely that the Red Wings will end their eight-season playoff drought.
“Everyone in this locker room knows what we are capable of,” Detroit forward Lucas Raymond said. “We have a lot of trust and belief in ourselves. It’s a lot of games left to be played, and our goal remains the same. We’re going to do everything we can to push towards it.”
The Red Wings need more out of Raymond to catch fire. The first-line forward hasn’t scored in the last 10 games.
Detroit and Vegas will play again in Las Vegas on Saturday as part of the Red Wings’ four-game road swing following Sunday’s contest.
