Senators Suffer Yet Another Injury In Tight 4-1 Loss In Vegas

The Senators did a lot of things right to open their five-game Western road trip on Tuesday night, but like so many others before them, they're leaving Las Vegas empty-handed.

Raphael Lavoie scored his first career NHL goal midway through the third period to break a 1-1 tie, leading the Knights to a 4-1 victory over the Senators.

Shane Pinto scored the lone goal for the Sens, who now have to deal with yet another injury in a season that's already been full of them.

Warren Foegele went down on a knee-on-knee hit from Jeremy Lauzon. Foegele left the game with assistance, not putting any weight on his right leg.

The Senators were, by far, the better team in a scoreless opening period, outshooting Vegas 11-4 but failing to capitalize on several great chances.

Fabian Zetterlund and Dylan Cozens each provided a couple of elite scoring chances, but in both cases, they couldn't get their stick blade on the puck to punch it into a wide open net.

Despite the lack of scoring, you wouldn't describe the opening two periods a defensive struggle. Both goaltenders were busy, with dangerous chances at either end.

Tim Stutzle had another fantastic chance in the second, but Adin Hill made an amazing glove save on his one-timer, similar to the one that Yaroslav Askarov made on Drake Batherson in the game against San Jose last week.

Vegas pushed back hard in the second, outshooting the Sens 15-7 and finally broke through late in the second period following a wild sequence on a Knights power play.

After a sprint up ice, Ridly Greig dove for a loose puck, attempting to chip it past Hill but crashed hard into the Knights goaltender, leaving him caught up ice as Vegas quickly transitioned the other way.

As Greig headed to the Sens bench for a change, that gave Knights a brief two-man advantage and seconds later, after a shot trickled through Jonas Johansson, Braeden Bowman stuffed the puck into the open net to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.

The Senators responded early in the third period on the power play, thanks to some great work by Pinto. After making a strong defensive play, Pinto turned on the jets, outskated Mitch Marner, took a nice feed from Drake Batherson, and fired a shot past Hill to tie the game at 1.

But the Senators couldn't build on that.

Midway through the period, Lavoie pounced on a juicy rebound and buried it for his first NHL goal, putting Vegas back in front.

It was a memorable moment for him, but a frustrating turn of events for a Sens team that had generated more than enough chances to be leading at that point.

The Sens continued to push for the equalizer, but Vegas put the game away with a pair of empty-net goals.

William Karlsson scored the first before Jack Eichel added another, just minutes into his 30th birthday.

For the Senators, it was a tough to come away with no points to start to a lengthy road trip. They did plenty of things well, particularly in the opening period, but their inability to finish was their undoing.  

They'll try to get back on track on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

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