WASHINGTON — This was not a script the Vegas Golden Knights were looking forward to reliving.
On Friday night, the Golden Knights fell back into the old habit of not starting on time, falling 3-2 to the Washington Capitals.
After a scoreless first period, the home team would be the first to take advantage in the first minute of the second. With the Golden Knights not providing much pressure in the neutral zone, the Capitals were able to skate in and get Pierre-Luc Dubois his second goal of the season.
The Capitals would double their lead after the Golden Knights made a critical mistake, taking a Rasmus Andersson turnover and allowing Dubois to get in front of Akira Schmid for his second goal of the game.
A long shift in the defensive zone and a Jakob Chychrun goal later, and the Golden Knights found themselves in another multi-goal hole going into the third.
However, such a situation has often been when the Golden Knights have played their best hockey, and it happened again here.
The comeback attempt started early, when Braeden Bowman was able to get a pass from Kaedan Korczak and maneuver his way into a shooting position, finally getting the better of former Golden Knight Logan Thompson to cut the deficit to two goals.
The power play would strike soon after, with Tomas Hertl deflecting the puck past Thompson for a one-goal game. Even more significant was the fact that the keep and assist by Mitch Marner was the 800th point of his spectacular NHL career.
Unfortunately, despite a push from the Golden Knights in the final ten minutes, Thompson was able to shut the door on another Vegas comeback.
The team will hope to rebound on Sunday when they go against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
