LAS VEGAS _ As you might expect, hockey in Las Vegas comes with a little more flash, a little more sizzle than you might find elsewhere. There's a guy in a knight outfit who leads a drum line on a march through the plaza in front of the arena before the game, and shortly before teams take the ice for the game, there is a little sword-in-the-stone drama that unfolds at center ice, with the Golden Knights mascot pulling the sword out to get things started.
This was the backdrop as the St. Louis Blues made their first trip to Las Vegas for just the fifth real game in the history of the league's newest expansion team. The game drew a healthy turnout of Blues' fans, and their cheers were noticeable within the 17,500 fans at T-Mobile Arena early on, and the Blues turned the game into a thriller, outshooting Vegas 44-19 in regulation but needed a late goal to tie it before losing 3-2 in overtime on Saturday in an unlikely showdown between teams that went into the night first (St. Louis) and third (Vegas) in points in the Western Conference.
It was a wide open overtime period with plenty of chances that ended with William Karlsson scoring with 23 seconds to go on a two-on-one.
The Blues tied the game 2-2 on a goal by Alex Pietrangelo on a slapshot that was the first shot on goal seen by Vegas backup goalie Oscar Dansk in his NHL debut after he came on to replace an injured Malcolm Subban. Vladimir Tarasenko won a battle for the puck and then Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz got the puck to Pietrangelo for his third goal of the season.
The Blues' penalty kill continues to be an issue. After giving up goals on the last two penalties they had to kill against Chicago and then going one for two at Chicago, they gave up goals on two of the first three against Vegas, giving them a run of five goals allowed in seven power plays. The Blues' power play, meanwhile, went 0 for its first four chances and while it produced plenty of scoring chances, it didn't produce any goals.
The Blues couldn't score on three power plays in the first period, but they got a goal from the fourth line. Oskar Sundqvist went behind the net and tried a wraparound that Subban stopped. But he couldn't control the puck, which lay in the crease amid a crush of bodies. Magnus Paajarvi was credited with the goal, though in the forest of sticks it looked like it could have been former Blues defenseman Brad Hunt who actually put it in.
Other than that, the Blues controlled the action but couldn't score. Schenn had a great chance on a shorthanded breakaway (after the Blues' third too-many-men penalty in nine games) but he couldn't lift the puck over Subban's pads after he crossed over to his backhand. Meanwhile, Vegas had just four shots on goal in the period _ the second time in the past three games the Blues have held an opponent to four shots on goal in the first period _ with three of them coming from former Blue David Perron. Two of them required solid saves from Jake Allen.
The power-play problems have been matched by the team's penalty killing issues. The Blues came into the league ranked 23rd on the penalty kill, long one of their strengths. They had allowed a power-play goal in seven of their first eight games, and you can add Saturday's to the list.
With 7:30 to go in the second period, Vegas had just two shots on goal in the second period, but when Scottie Upshall got a tripping penalty and the Golden Knights got a power play, that changed. Allen made two saves on shots from Vegas, but on the third, Reilly Smith scored to tie the game. The goal started on a play where Paajarvi won a race to the puck behind the Vegas net, but instead of keeping the puck and running off some time, he tried a centering pass that Vegas picked up and started a run the other way that ended in the goal.
With 3:11 to go in the period, Paajarvi went off for holding and Vegas scored again. This time, it was Colin Miller scoring from the right circle and Vegas, though being outshot 29-12 after two periods, led 2-1.
It looked like the Blues had tied the game with 16:47 to go in the third. Vladimir Sobotka put a shot on goal that Subban stopped with his left pad. The puck appeared to go under his left pad, and Subban then slid, entirely on his own, almost entirely into his net. Although the puck could never be seen, simple laws of matter would seem to indicate that as long as the puck existed, it had to be in the goal. After a lengthy review with Toronto, which had erred in the Blues' favor two nights ago in Denver, this time the call went against the Blues, and the no-goal call stood. The league said that it "was unable to confirm if the puck completely crossed the Vegas goal line. Therefore, the referee's call on the ice stands."
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