LAS VEGAS — Utah Hockey Club head coach Andre Tourigny gave a word of warning about his team’s preseason success on the power play.
“We’re not playing against NHL PK yet,” he said during Friday’s morning skate. “So we’ll see how good we are when we move forward.”
As luck would have it, they got a better taste Friday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights played most of their NHL regulars in Vegas’ preseason debut.
First, the good news: Utah still scored a power-play goal (though, their coach was less than pleased with the unit overall).
Now, the bad: The Knights won the preseason game 5-2, overpowering a much less experienced Utah side. So much for Utah never losing a game. The Hockey Club dropped to 2-1 in the preseason.
“I think we’re taking risks at the wrong place, and we paid for it, and we feed their offense a little bit,” Tourigny said. “We didn’t have our execution. We had a tough time making plays, but I think the turnover and probably the puck management is probably the No. 1 thing.”
The final 30 minutes of the game was a Las Vegas onslaught. The Knights scored four unanswered goals, including three in the third period to turn what was a close game into a rout.
In the second period, Utah’s Michael Carcone scored the opening goal of the game on the power play. Following a Vegas equalizer, Ryan McGregor scored off a centering pass from Aku Raty to give Utah the lead again.
After that, it was all Vegas.
Knights star Jack Eichel tied things up later in the second period, and Vegas’ experience won out in the third. Utah was without Clayton Keller, Mikhail Sergachev, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, among many others, from their top three lines.
The Hockey Club struggled to find quality scoring chances and got outshot 26-16.
“We were trying to do too much playing through them, instead to around them, and that’s what leads to a lot of turnover, lost momentum, frustration, and then you force even more,” Tourigny said. “So I think it’s a good lesson to learn.”
One bright spot was goalie Matthew Villalta. The 25-year-old started in the crease and played the first 30 minutes of the night. He stopped all nine shots he faced. It wasn’t until he went to the bench that the Vegas flurry began.
“I was just trying to enjoy the moment,” he said. “It’s my first time playing here in T-Mobile, so it’s obviously pretty cool. So I was just trying to have fun and keep the puck out of the net.”
