LAS VEGAS — The rough homestand that the Vegas Golden Knights have endured ended on a painful note Thursday.
A 3-3 game in overtime with a late power play for Vegas turned into disaster as Jean-Gabriel Pageau got the puck off a faceoff, walked in and beat Akira Schmid for a shorthanded game-winning OT goal, giving the New York Islanders a 4-3 win and two points.
If the Islanders don’t draw a bench minor for too many men on the ice after a sloppy change, Pageau never sees the ice and forfeits any chance to be the hero. But when you’re scuffling like the Golden Knights currently are, things like that happen.
Even the solid debut of rookie Braeden Bowman and Reilly Smith finally scoring for the first time since Oct. 9 wasn’t enough to finish the six-game stand at T-Mobile Arena on a positive note. Instead, the Knights went just 1-3-2, picking up only four out of a possible 12 points.
“Closing games has been a strength for us,” said Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. “When we didn’t extend the lead after their failed challenge cost us.”
Cassidy is referring to the aftermath of Smith’s third-period goal which had helped erase a 2-0 first-period deficit to give Vegas a 3-2 lead. Isles coach Patrick Roy challenged for goaltender interference but the challenge was denied and the Knights had their fourth power play of the evening.
We all know how Vegas has struggled with the man advantage. Since Mark Stone went out Oct. 18, the Knights have just three goals in 34 attempts.
To attempt to rectify that, Cassidy inserted Bowman, a 22-year-old winger who was called up from Henderson of the American Hockey League. With center William Karlsson placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and whose status was characterized by Cassidy as week-to-week, The Knights decided to give Bowman a shot rather than keep Alexander Holtz in the lineup.
Bowman looked comfortable out there playing alongside Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev. And while he didn’t dent the scoresheet, Bowman did well, playing 16:45, getting four shots on goal though he also had four missed shots.
“It was awesome, crazy, a dream come true,” Bowman said of his emotions of reaching the NHL. “It’s a bit surreal.
“Once the puck drops, you just focus on the game. The crowd, everything else, it just goes away. Jack did a really good job bringing guys through. I was just trying to read the play. I wish I could have finished a couple of those off.”
Cassidy had no issues with Bowman.
“He was good on the walls,” Cassidy said. “There’s a lot to like. He helped us. The more he plays, the more comfortable he’ll be.”
For Smith, whose goal gave Vegas its only lead when he scored with 9:15 remaining in regulation, perhaps it’ll get him going. He’s been a streaky goal scorer throughout his career.
“Goals aren’t coming easily so you have to grind your way through and create opportunities in the paint,” he said.
While the Knights were pleased for their rookie Bowman, the Islanders continue to be ecstatic over the play of Matthew Schaefer, the rookie defenseman they selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Thursday, Schaefer scored on the power play to give the isles a 2-0 first-period lead. He also assisted on Mat Barzal’s game-tying goal with 2:37 left after Roy had pulled Ilya Sorokin for a sixth attacker. He played with poise throughout and played just under 26 minutes, the most of any Islander.
Schaefer now has six goals and eight assists in his first 17 games as the Islanders continue their climb in the Metropolitan Division. New York sits in fourth place with 20 points, just one behind third-place Pittsburgh.
At 7-4-5 with 19 points, the Knights are in fifth place in the Pacific Division. After starting the season 5-0-2 Vegas is winless in six of its last nine contests. They’re on the road with back-to-back games Saturday in St. Louis vs. the Blues and Sunday in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild before returning home Tuesday to face the Rangers.
“It’s hard to come back and win,” Smith said, summing up the less-than-successful homestand. “We’re putting ourselves in that position too often so we have to figure that out.”
