Vegas Golden Knights fall to Vancouver in Game 2 after slow start

The Vegas Golden Knights will head in Game 3 with the series tied at 1 after a slow start.

The Vegas Golden Knights were trying to take full control of the series while the Vancouver Canucks were trying to even the series at one. Just like Vegas in game one, it was the Canucks who got off to the fast start getting on the board 90 seconds into the game. Elias Pettersson found Tyler Toffoli at the side of the net and made a cross-ice feed and Toffoli made it 1-0 Vancouver.

The Canucks looked like the faster team and were taking it to their opponents in the first period. Elias Pettersson had a great chance on a breakaway but Robin Lehner was up to the task of shutting the door. 11 minutes into the period Vegas took the first penalty of the game when Will Carrier was sent to the box for hooking.

It didn’t take long for the Vancouver powerplay to strike as seven seconds into the man advantage Bo Horvat made it 2-0 with a great pass once again from Elias Pettersson. The Knights were down 2 10 minutes into the first period of game two.

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The period would end on that score and the Knights had some work to do in the second period to get back in the game.

Vegas did just that in the second period when seven minutes into the period Alex Tuch got a great pass from Nicholas Roy who had received an alley-oop pass from Shea Theodore and beat Jacob Markstrom to make it 2-1. That goal seemed to have given the Golden Knights life and they pushed hard for the equalizer.

Vancouver got a delay of game penalty later in the period but the Canucks would be able to kill it off. With a minute left in the period after assisting on the first two goals, it was Elias Pettersson’s turn to score when he got a pass from Alex Edler and outdeked Robin Lehner to make it 3-1 Canucks.

The Vegas Golden Knights once again entered an intermission down two goals with a lot of work to do in the final 20 minutes.

Once again it was the Vancouver Canucks with the faster start to the period as just 18 seconds into the final frame Bo Horvat scored to make 4-1 Vancouver. He got a brilliant pass from Brock Boeser and put the puck past Lehner.

With five minutes left in the game, things got chippy and physical between the two teams when Alex Tuch and Jake Virtanen got involved in a wrestling match on the ice when Virtanen took off Tuch helmet. Tuch would get a double minor while Virtanen would get a minor but nothing came out of it.

Two minutes later Pete Deboer pulled Lehner hoping for a last-minute comeback. Once again the Vancouver Canucks got penalized when Alex Edler was sent to the box for cross-checking and it gave the Knights a chance to work a 6 on 4 situation. A minute and 24 seconds into the powerplay Max Pacioretty took a slap shot from the top of the circle that zipped past Markstrom with a screen in front from Reilly Smith and Vancouver lead was cut to two.

That’s the most they would get tonight and with 29 seconds left on the clock, Tanner Pearson scored into an empty net to make it 5-2 which was the final score. Game 3 goes Wednesday night at 6:45 pm Pacific time at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.