Hannah Kirkell
The 2025-26 Vegas Golden Knights are remarkably consistent. Unfortunately, they’re consistent in all the wrong ways— they have a tendency to only start playing well once they’ve fallen behind by two or more goals. They’ve managed to salvage points out of many of those efforts, but it’s hardly a recipe for success.
It happened again on Tuesday when the Golden Knights took on the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. The Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period, and only then did the Golden Knights respond. They played exceptionally well for just under 35 minutes of play, but it wasn’t enough, and the Sabres held on for a 3-2 win.
“It’s just tough to go down several goals and come back to win games,” said Colton Sissons postgame. “We’re constantly finding ways to make it interesting, but it’s just too little too late again.”
The Sabres opened the scoring just 4:02 into the first period. Ryan McLeod tried to find Jack Quinn for a back-door tap-in, but his pass went off Jack Eichel’s skate. The puck bounced right to Jason Zucker at the goal line, and the Las Vegas native tapped it home.
The Sabres doubled their lead just 46 seconds into the second period. Noah Ostlund won the offensive zone face-off back to Owen Power, who walked the line and wristed a shot on goal from distance. Rasmus Andersson partially screened Akira Schmid, and Power’s shot went off Andersson’s glove and into the net.
The Sabres added to their lead at 5:44 in the second. Alex Tuch flew into the offensive zone and threaded a pass to Tage Thompson. Thompson stepped up into the right circle and snapped a wristed past Akira Schmid far-side.
That’s when everything shifted, and the Golden Knights responded just 1:06 later. Jack Eichel set up Shea Theodore for a one-timer, but the shot went wide. Alex Lyon denied Ivan Barbashev’s stuff attempt, so Barbashev jammed it home on a wraparound.
The Golden Knights made it a one-goal game at 8:27 in the second. Reilly Smith forced a turnover and chipped the puck out of the zone, and Pavel Dorofeyev got to it first. Dorofeyev raced up ice, protected the puck, and beat Alex Lyon five-hole.
Despite only trailing by a goal, the Golden Knights struggled to generate offense in the third period. They failed to rise to the moment and looked uninspired while doing so. In addition to hitting a few crossbars, they managed just six shots on goal in the final frame and fell 3-2.
Three Golden Knights Takeaways
1. Credit where it’s due: Alex Lyon played very well tonight in net for the Sabres. He saved 27 of 29 shots and finished the night with a .931 SV% and a 1.85 GSAx. That being said, the Golden Knights simply didn’t do enough to make his life difficult. They challenged him just six times in the third period. That isn’t going to result in wins very often– especially when they’re trying to complete a comeback.
2. The Golden Knights are floundering; with a 3-6-2 record in their last 11 games, they’re at serious risk of losing control of the Pacific Division. Their biggest issue, of course, is their slow starts. Sure, they made it competitive tonight. Big whoop. Moral victories mean very little to begin with, and even less this time of year when points are at a premium.
Chasing a lead is exhausting, and the Golden Knights have made a habit of that. In 61 games played, they’ve spent 1502:48 trailing, which is the fourth-most in the league. The fact that they’re still currently leading the Pacific Division says more about the state of the division than it does about their quality of play.
“We’ve been down this road before,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy following the 3-2 loss. “We get behind, sort of get punched in the face. Then we get to our game— we’ve been talking about trying to get there before that happens, a lot.”
3. The hockey gods haven’t smiled upon the Golden Knights’ goaltenders this season. Their team Goals Against Above Expected is 25.42– that’s the second-worst in the entire league. But tonight, goaltending was the least of their worries.
Tonight, their biggest problem was that they couldn’t score three goals. Following the loss, head coach Bruce Cassidy called the team out for underperforming offensively.
“[Goaltending] has plagued us some nights, where we needed an extra save,” said Bruce Cassidy postgame. “Tonight, we needed another goal… I think there’s some guys at the bottom of the lineup that have typically scored more, and so far that hasn’t happened. That’s how one-goal losses happen.”
