The 2025-26 Vegas Golden Knights have been remarkably consistent. Unfortunately, they are consistent in all the wrong ways – they have a tendency to start playing well only after falling behind by two or more goals. They have managed to save points from many of those attempts, but that is hardly a recipe for success.
It happened again Tuesday when the Golden Knights faced the Buffalo Sabers at KeyBank Center. The Sabers took a 3-0 lead early in the second period before the Golden Knights responded. He performed exceptionally well in just under 35 minutes of play, but it was not enough and the Sabers won 3–2.
"It's very tough to be down by that many goals and come back to win the game," Colton Sissons said after the game. "We're constantly looking for ways to make it interesting, but now it's too late."
The Sabers opened the scoring just 4:02 into the first period. Ryan McLeod tried to find Jack Quinn for a back-door tap-in, but his pass went off the skate of Jack Eichel. The puck bounced straight to Jason Zucker at the goal line, and the Las Vegas native tapped it home.
The Sabers doubled their lead just 46 seconds into the second period. Noah Ostlund won in the offensive zone in front of Owen Power, who walked to the line and fired a shot on goal from distance. Rasmus Andersson partially screened Akira Schmidt, and Power's shot went off Andersson's glove and into the net.
The Sabers extended their lead at 5:44 of the second minute. Alex Tuch flew into the offensive zone and threw a pass to Taj Thompson. Thompson stepped into the right circle and beat Akira Schmidt with a wrist shot from distance.
That's when everything changed, and the Golden Knights responded just 1:06 later. Jack Eichel set up Shea Theodore for a one-timer, but the shot went wide. Alex Lyon denied Ivan Barbashev's pass attempt, so Barbashev buried it home on a wraparound.
At 8:27 in the second minute, the Golden Knights tied it at one goal. Reilly Smith forced a turnover and knocked the puck out of the zone, and Pavel Dorofeyev advanced to first. Dorofeyev raced up the ice, protected the puck and beat Alex Lyon for the five-hole.
Despite trailing by only one goal, the Golden Knights struggled to generate offense in the third period. He failed to move forward this time and looked disinterested while doing so. Apart from hitting a few crossbars, they managed only six shots on goal in the final frame and lost 3–2.
Three Golden Night Takeaway
1. Credit is due: Alex Lyon played very well in net for the Sabers tonight. He saved 27 of 29 shots and finished the night with a .931 SV% and 1.85 GSAX. That being said, the Golden Knights didn't do enough to make life difficult for him. He challenged them only six times in the third period. This is often not going to result in a win – especially when they are trying to make a comeback.
2. The Golden Knights are faltering; With a 3-6-2 record in their last 11 games, they are in serious danger of losing control of the Pacific Division. Of course, their biggest issue is their slow start. Sure, they made it competitive tonight. Big noise. Moral victory means little early on, and even less at this time of year when points are at a premium.
Chasing leads is exhausting, and the Golden Knights have made a habit of it. In 61 games played, he has spent 1502:48 of time at the back, fourth most in the league. The fact that they are still leading the Pacific Division says more about the state of the division than the quality of their play.
"We've been down this road before," head coach Bruce Cassidy said after the 3-2 loss. "We get held back, kind of punched in the face. Then we get on our game — we're talking about trying to get there before that happens, a lot."
3. The hockey gods have not smiled on the Golden Knights goaltenders this season. Their team's Goals Against Above Expected is 25.42 - second worst in the entire league. But tonight, goaltending was the least of his concerns.
Tonight, their biggest problem was that they couldn't score three goals. Following the loss, head coach Bruce Cassidy dismissed the team for poor performance offensively.
"[Goaltending] Bruce Cassidy said after the game, "We've had a couple of nights where we needed extra saves. Tonight, we needed another goal... I think there are some guys at the bottom of the lineup who usually score more, and that hasn't happened yet. Losing by one goal like that."
