The Vegas Golden Knights have had a strong overall start to the season, but they are currently hitting a rough patch. Vegas has now dropped three straight games, though it still sits second in the Pacific Division with a 16-8-10 record.
Their latest setback came in a tight 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, a game that was largely defined by another dazzling performance from Connor McDavid. After the game, Mitch Marner shared his perspective on trying to contain the Oilers’ captain.
Vegas’ Mitch Marner on Connor McDavid’s Show-Stealing Game
McDavid got things started at 9:11 of the first period, bursting through the neutral zone after a pass from Leon Draisaitl and slicing past the Vegas defense before finishing with a slick move to the right to beat Carter Hart.
Marner explained how deceptive McDavid can be. “It’s sneaky. Obviously, you know how fast and how skilled he is,” Marner said. “There are plays that don’t look like anything’s going to happen, and then next thing you know, it’s kind of in his hands coming up the ice with a full head of speed. When that’s going on, it’s tough for anyone to cover him. He’s so shifty, so dynamic.”
Marner highlighted McDavid’s next-level deception, noting it is almost impossible not to react to his head fakes when he is coming at you with speed. He added that Vegas has to do a better job of cutting down McDavid’s time and space, particularly in the neutral zone.
After McDavid’s opening goal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice on the power play to push the lead to 3-0 early in the second period, and Zach Hyman made it 4-0 midway through the period.
Vegas showed some fight late in the second when Tomas Hertl put the Golden Knights on the board. That momentum carried into the third, with Pavel Dorofeyev scoring on the power play and Marner making it a one-goal game. In the end, though, the Golden Knights’ rally fell just short as they could not find the tying goal.
“The last two obviously haven’t been ideal for us,” he said. “We’re going down early, and that’s something you don’t want to do, especially against good teams… I do like the way that we respond… But we need to be better in the first.”
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Vegas will now look to clean things up early and get back in the win column when it faces the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, hoping to put this short skid behind it.
