Knights' sloppy play against Kings tarnishes Marner's debut

LAS VEGAS — Well, that was interesting, wasn’t it?

Whether you root for the Vegas Golden Knights or the Los Angeles Kings, you left with a bit of an empty feeling as each team squandered two-goal leads before the Kings ultimately prevailed in a shootout, 6-5, Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena.

Trevor Moore, who helped get the Kings closer in the third period with his goal that made it 5-4, had the winning tally in the shootout, beating Adin Hill. At the other end, Anton Forsberg closed the door with stops on Pavel Dorofeyev and Mitch Marner, the latter who was making his debut with the Golden Knights.

“We mismanaged some pucks along the way and it probably cost us the second point,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said after dropping the season opener for just the second time in the franchise’s nine-year history.

Wednesday was an historic day for the Knights. Center Jack Eichel agreed to an extension on an eight-year deal worth $108 million that will keep him in Vegas through 2034. Marner, the other high-priced star that general manager Kelly McCrimmon brought to the club, made his debut skating with Eichel and Ivan Barbashev.

Marner, who had a pair of assists, set up Eichel’s third-period goal and Eichel also had three assists for what would be a four-point evening.

“For a first game, I thought there were some good things to like,” Eichel said of his line. “I think we’ll only get better.

“There were some stretches where we looked really good and controlled the play. Give (the Kings) credit. They’re a good team. They didn’t go away. It’s frustrating to give up a two-goal lead in the third. Just clean up some mistakes and learn from that and get better.”

The line created a pretty goal in the third period from Barbashev as Marner connected with Eichel on a pass into the Kings’ zone and Eichel found Barbashev who finished it off. It gave Vegas what appeared to be an insurmountable 5-3 lead. However, the Kings responded to tie it with six minutes remaining in regulation.

But Eichel’s line weren’t the only ones who produced on Opening Night for Vegas. One thing we should know by now about Pavel Dorofeyev, when he says something, we should take his word for it.

The 26-year-old winger from Russia said Tuesday that he was ready to return to the lineup after missing six games in the preseason with a knee injury.

Boy was he right.

Dorofeyev single-handedly brought the Knights back from two-goal deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 with a natural hat trick. Dorofeyev, who led Vegas with 32 goals last season, has a great pair of hands and a quick release on his shot. If you’re an opposing goaltender, it’s hard to get a read on him. Forsberg found that out the hard way as Dorofeyev beat him in a variety of ways from several locations.

His first was off a steal of Cody Ceci after Dorofeyev had been deep in his own end. He took the puck away, skating in and beat Forsberg, the puck going off the post and in to cut it to 2-1.

After Jeff Mallet put the Kings back up two with a deflection of Joel Armia’s shot from near the top of the circle that eluded Hill for his first NHL goal which had L.A. ahead 3-1, Dorofeyev was perched at the right doorstep while the Knights were on a three-minute power play and he cut it to 3-2.

And when the Kings couldn’t stay out of the box and the Knights found themselves with a two-man advantage late in the second period, Dorofeyev whipped a shot past a defenseless Forsberg to tie it and send a cascade of lids onto the ice from many in the sellout crowd of 18,393.

He became the first player in franchise history to register a hat trick on opening night and the first player since Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov to get a hatty in the opener. Kucherov’s came on Oct. 11, 2024.

“He’s a big part of our offense,” Cassidy said of Dorofeyev. “He can make things tough for opposing teams.”

The Kings made things tough on Hill. The Knights’ starting goaltender allowed five goals on just 24 shots through regulation. And while Hill was strong in overtime, stopping both in-close shots he faced, he was unable to prevail in the shootout. Adrian Kempe beat him, then Moore delivered the game winner.

For L.A., getting two points on the road and bouncing back from Tuesday’s 4-1 debacle at home against Colorado was big. Especially having squandered  a couple of two-goal leads.

As for the Knights, they’ll get their own chance for quick redemption Thursday when they face the Sharks at SAP Center in San Jose. Cassidy is hoping for a cleaner game when it comes to handling the puck.

“Our defensive breakdowns are correctable,” he said. “Hopefully we manage the puck better (Thursday).”