Golden Knights Shine On Panthers

     The Vegas Golden Knights slipped by the Florida Panthers 6-5 in a shootout at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night. There were three lead changes during regulation.
     The Panthers ended the three-game road trip with a 1-0-2 record. The Golden Knights finished a four-game home stand and have played eight of their last nine games in Las Vegas.
     Vegas(34-26-5) drew first blood at 3:09 of the opening period. Paul Stastny won a right-circle faceoff against Vincent Trocheck, handled the puck past Keith Yandle to the crease area and placed a forehand shot by Roberto Luongo for his eighth goal.
     The rest of the first period belonged to Florida(28-25-10) as they compiled three goals. They got a power-play goal with 5:26 to go. Yandle was at the blue line, faked a slapshot and passed to his right. Mike Hoffman snapped a shot by Malcolm Subban to tie the game 1-1. Hoffman extended his point streak to five games with that tally.
     Hoffman got his career-high 30th goal of the season on another power play with 1:29 remaining. Jonathan Huberdeau backhanded a pass from the left circle to Yandle on top of the zone. He angled a pass to the high right circle where Hoffman blasted a one-time slapshot for his second goal of the contest.
     The Panthers made it 3-1 just 28 seconds later. Trocheck crossed the Golden Knights blue line and made a backhand pass to the right wing. Huberdeau chipped the puck back to the right point and Aaron Ekblad nailed in a one-time slapshot.
     The second period was taken over by Vegas with three unanswered goals. Jon Merrill passed it from the right point to Jonathan Marchessault on the right-wing boards and he found Reilly Smith in the crease. Smith put the puck back between his legs near the blue paint and flicked in a forehand shot at the 7:40 mark.
     They tied it up 3-3 with 5:38 left in the period. Shea Theodore made a cross-ice pass from the right point to the left point. Merrill slowly inched a couple of steps and scored on a slapshot from the top left circle.
     The Golden Knights regained the lead with 3:51 to go during a 4-on-4 situation. Stastny won another faceoff in the right circle versus Trocheck, Nate Schmidt tapped the puck from the top right circle and Colin Miller smashed a one-time slapshot from above the high slot.
     The Cats stopped the bleeding with 53.9 seconds remaining in the second. A Yandle slapshot from the blue line hit the end glass. Jamie McGinn got it behind the Vegas cage, skated to the right goal line and passed across the crease. Aleksander Barkov pushed the puck in on a second effort for his 27th goal of the season. Barkov increased his point streak to seven games and now has scored eight times in the last seven games.
     In the third period, Florida made it 5-4 at 3:18 of the third period. Mike Matheson took a shot from the left circle which was saved. Huberdeau was stopped on his rebound shot, however he was lying on the ice when he converted on his second shot from the crease. He tied a career-high, four-point game with his 18th goal.
     Vegas took advantage of a delayed penalty to tie it up 5-5 with 4:19 left. Theodore made a lead pass from deep in his defensive zone to Smith at center ice. He skated past the Panthers blue line and into the left circle. His snap shot went off Matheson's stick and by the left shoulder of Luongo for his second goal of the contest and 12th goal of the campaign.
     The game was not decided until a shootout. The Golden Knights converted only once, during their second attempt, which was enough. Theodore went into the crease area and lifted in a backhand shot for the eventual victory.