The Vegas Golden Knights (21-8-5) were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning (16-13-5) in a 5-4 contest on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
Jonathan Marchessault started off the scoring as he settled a rebound in the slot before wristing it past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy at 11:40 of the first period. A cross-ice pass from Mark Stone found Ivan Barbashev where he ripped the puck upstairs to give Vegas a 2-0 lead with 3:03 left in the opening frame.
The Lightning got on the board at 8:25 of the second as Alex Barré-Boulet deflected a shot into the net to cut the Vegas lead in half. A one-timer from Nikita Kucherov on a 5-on-3 man advantage for the Lightning tied it at two, before Brayden Point netted the Lightning's third goal 31 seconds later, still on the power play. Point added another tally at 18:50 of the middle frame to give Tampa the 4-2 edge heading into the intermission.
A textbook tic-tac-toe power-play goal saw Marchessault record his second of the night at 5:31 of the third period. Paul Cottter found the back of the net for the game-tying tally, wristing it from the top of the right dot at 9:44 of the final frame. Tampa's Nick Paul posted a goal with 1:13 left in regulation to secure the 5-4 win for the Lightning.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Vegas Golden Knights head to Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers in a Stanley Cup Final rematch and their last game before the Christmas break on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT at Amerant Bank Arena. Tune in on Vegas 34, stream on KnightTime+, or listen live on the Vegas Golden Knights Radio Network on 98.9/1340.
