February 27, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, United States; Las Vegas Golden Knights right winger Mark Stone (61) skates with the puck while Washington Capitals center Dylan Strome (17) chases during the second period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Image Las Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy has one simple request for his team ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game against Pittsburgh.
Start on time.
The three-week Olympic break did little for the Golden Knights to recharge and break their habit of poor starts throughout the season. Vegas led 5-1 in the first two periods in the first two of its five-game road trip coming off the break.
The good news is that the Pacific Division leaders scored five goals in the third period to earn split wins in both contests, including a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday and a 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Vegas trailed 3-0 heading into the final 20 minutes of the game against the Capitals, making just 13 total shots through the first two periods. That’s despite five of their top players – center Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone, forward Mitch Marner and defensemen Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin – sitting out Wednesday’s game to recover after competing in the Olympics. With Marner’s help, these five players combined for just one assist.
“To be honest with you, they were well-rested,” Cassidy said after Friday’s game when asked if the five players were battling fatigue after the long trip from Italy. “They will need to perform better on Sunday. They are our best players and leaders and we expect them to play like that.”
“They didn’t come on time.” The coach continued. “We tried to give them a break. Hopefully it pays off on Sunday and next week. That wasn’t the case tonight.”
Eichel and Hanifin stayed in D.C. for two days after spending Tuesday at the White House with the gold medal-winning U.S. team, while Stone, Theodore and Hanifin spent some free time in Las Vegas before flying east to join the team on Thursday.
Cassidy, who has come under some criticism for slow starts in the past, did not do so this time.
“We’re not ready to play,” he said. “A coach has to get the team ready to play, but this guy wasn’t ready to play. They’re professionals. They should be ready to play. And we didn’t do nearly enough.”
Vegas had several chances to tie the game, but Washington goalkeeper Logan Thompson blocked Brayden McNabb’s short-handed breakaway and followed that up with a grade-A stop on Marner’s close-range attempt.
“We will always respond,” Cassidy said. “I’ve said that many times, and we did it tonight. If we play 20 minutes, we’re lucky. That’s the problem, right? We almost win a hockey game if we play 20 minutes. Imagine playing 40 or 45 minutes.”
Pittsburgh plays the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 3-2 penalty shootout loss to the host New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon. The Penguins, led by goals from Anthony Mantha and Ryan Shay, blew a 2-0 lead in the second period and then fell 1-8 in a penalty shootout. This is the NHL’s worst record among teams that have participated in penalty shootouts more than four times this season.
Vincent Trocheck scored the Rangers’ lone penalty kick goal and all three Pittsburgh players failed to convert.
“We’ve continued to work on it, we’ll continue to look at it,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said of his team’s penalty shooting woes. “It just wasn’t good. That’s on all of us. We’ve got to keep finding ways to get better. We tried some different guys, we tried some different things, but the result is the same.”
The Penguins, who are 8-1-2 since January 19, remain tied for second with the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division with 73 points.
“It’s a difficult game, but we’re looking forward to going on a streak tomorrow against Las Vegas. They’re a good team and it’s a big challenge,” forward Evgeni Malkin said. “Back home. We played hard. I won’t say anything bad tonight. We played hard.”
–Field level media
