Vegas drops game 5-2, offering little clarity in the battle for the final two forward spots on roster.
The Vegas Golden Knights suffered defeat in their first preseason game - a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
Ivan Barbashev and Brett Howden each scored, while Jiri Patera stopped 13 shots in two periods of play. Jesper Vikman entered in the period period, stopping all three of the shots he faced.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
No clear leader in the clubhouse for the final two roster spots
Much of the talk in training camp will surround which two forwards will take the last two available forward spots.
The game against the Sharks revealed little in terms of clearing up that situation, as none of the four potential prospects stood out from one another.
In terms of ice time, Paul Cotter, surprisingly was the lowest in terms of play time, playing 15:08. Cotter had spent much of the first three days of training camp playing alongside William Karlsson and Michael Amadio.
Brendan Brisson - the long shot among the four - played the most, tallying 18:04 of ice time. Max Comtois was on the ice for 16:36, while Pavel Dorofeyev played 15:39.
Dorofeyev reached the scoresheet with a beautiful assist on Barbashev's goal in the first period, but each of the four had their moments in spurts.
Overall, this battle is clearly far from over.
Rough night for Patera
It wasn't the best night for the guy dubbed the No. 3 goalie.
Patera allowed a goal on the first shot he saw and it went downhill from there. He only stopped 13 shots in two periods of work, but if there is a silver lining, it's that the game is a preseason game and nobody expects Patera to challenge Adin Hill or Logan Thompson for a roster spot.
With that said, Patera will likely have more opportunities to get sharp as he will likely take the load for most of the preseason games, alongside Vikman.
Expect Patera to be better than tonight. It was a rough night for everyone in a Vegas Golden Knight uniform.
Mixed debut for KnightTime+
The game marked the debut of the Golden Knights streaming platform.
Viewers missed some of the first period and much of the third period due to issues that can only be tied to being a new platform.
When the platform did work, it worked well.
Overall, the platform is still early in its history and whether or not it can work will remain to be seen. But do not expect fans to be patient, as the platform works out its kinks. They're not the most patient group.
Fans will have another opportunity to check out KnightTime+ as the Golden Knights play the Colorado Avalanche on Monday at 6 p.m.