NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Golden Knights' attempt at revenge goal for Jack Eichel backfires

Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) reacts after scoring a goal during the third period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

Watch: Golden Knights lose game after trying to get revenge goal for Jack Eichel

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Mar 15, 2025 7:44 PM ET

The Vegas Golden Knights dropped a 4-3 shootout decision to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon, a result that had to be frustrating enough for the Golden Knights given that Buffalo is one of the league's worst teams. What had to make it even more frustrating is that they had a chance to put the game away late in the third period and, quite literally, passed on it to try and get Jack Eichel a revenge empty-net goal.

In the final minute of regulation, and with the Sabres net empty for the extra attacker, Vegas' Tomas Hertl had a clear shot at the open net as he raced for a loose puck. Had he taken it and scored, Vegas would have had a two-goal lead and effectively ended the game.

Instead of taking the shot, he tried to do a blind, backwards pass to set up Eichel.

The pass failed to connect, and Buffalo ended up going down the ice and getting a game-tying goal from Rasmus Dahlin to send the game to overtime where Buffalo would eventually win.

Here is a look at the play.

Tomas Hertl had a chance for the empty net goal in the third, but tried to give it to Jack Eichel instead.

Now the game is going to the shootout pic.twitter.com/uKLUIHByjm
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 15, 2025

Eichel had scored a go-ahead goal just a few minutes earlier.

Eichel spent the first six years of his career in Buffalo after being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. He was supposed to be the player that would help turn the Sabres organization around and be their franchise cornerstone for the next decade. But after management failed to build a winning team around him, and after some major disagreements over how a neck injury should have been treated, Eichel forced his way out of Buffalo and ended up getting traded to Vegas during the 2021-22 season.

He eventually helped lead the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup during the 2022-23 season.

Instead of being Buffalo's superstar, Eichel is now public enemy No. 1 every time he returns to the city and spent all afternoon on Saturday hearing boos every time he touched the puck. That was likely on Hertl's mind when he tried to get the puck to Eichel in an effort to get him another goal.

After the game, Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said he would have preferred if Hertl had simply taken the shot at the empty net.

“I’d like to see him shoot the puck and end the game. I’d think the whole team would like to see him do that.”

Bruce Cassidy on Tomas Hertl’s choice to pass to Jack Eichel instead of shooting into the empty net.
— Jack Williams (@jackgwilliams) March 15, 2025

Vegas is still one of the NHL's best teams and on its way to the playoffs, so the result does not really hurt much. It still had to be frustrating for Cassidy to watch.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

More must-reads: