Golden Knights vs Canadiens: Vegas Falls 4–1 at Home

The Golden Knights controlled long stretches at T-Mobile Arena on Friday afternoon but could not solve the Montréal Canadiens in a 4–1 loss. Vegas generated 31 shots and won the majority of its faceoffs, but Montréal’s structure and layers kept nearly everything outside the dangerous areas. The loss dropped the Golden Knights to 10-5-8 on the season.

Montréal punishes early Vegas mistakes

Zack Bolduc opened the scoring at 14:30 of the first period, finishing a quick wrist shot off an offensive-zone faceoff win. It was the first of several moments where a lost defensive-zone draw put Vegas in trouble.

Cole Caufield doubled the lead early in the second period. Two failed clearing attempts trapped the Golden Knights in their own zone, and Caufield snapped a shot past Akira Schmid to make it 2–0.

Jake Evans stretched the advantage to 3–0 early in the third period, finishing a clean chance from the slot after Montréal entered the zone without resistance.

Samuel Montembeault handles the volume

Vegas skated with purpose and held the puck for long stretches, but Montréal dictated where the shots came from. Samuel Montembeault stopped 30 of 31 shots, and the Canadiens blocked 24 more.

Jack Eichel hit the post in the second period, Tomas Hertl created several close-in looks and Pavel Dorofeyev produced shots from distance, but nothing consistently reached the middle of the ice. Nearly every Vegas chance came through traffic or from angles Montréal allowed.

Mark Stone ends the shutout bid, but the push comes late

Mark Stone finally broke through with 4:44 remaining, finishing a setup from Mitch Marner to cut the deficit to 3–1. It was one of the few clean slot looks Vegas produced all night.

Juraj Slafkovsky added an empty-net goal at 18:03 to close out the scoring.

Vegas finished 0 for 1 on the power play and 32 of 54 in the faceoff circle.

What this means for the Golden Knights

The Golden Knights did not lose because of a lack of effort. They forechecked hard, won battles along the walls and controlled the puck. They lost because Montréal controlled the interior, recovered pucks cleaner and forced Vegas to settle for the wrong types of chances.

Possession did not equal danger, and until Vegas creates more pressure inside the dots, games like this will continue to tilt against them.

Vegas heads out for a back-to-back Saturday night against the San Jose Sharks, who enter at 11-10-3.

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