LAS VEGAS -- The Golden Knights lost for the sixth time in seven games when they squandered a first-period 2-0 lead and lost to the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Wednesday.

The Golden Knights dropped to 4-2-0 all-time when playing on New Year's Eve.

Vegas captain Mark Stone opened the scoring for the Knights when he notched his 10th goal of the season during a power play early in the first period.

The goal was seemingly fitting hours after he was named to Canada’s Olympic roster, along with teammates Mitch Marner and Shea Theodore.

Ben Hutton made it 2-0 less than four minutes later, swinging momentum in full favor of the Knights.

The Predators weren't intimidated in the least, however, as they scored three unanswered goals and never looked back, adding a fourth goal in the second period to provide the final margin.

During the Knights' latest skid, they're allowing the league's sixth-highest 3.83 goals per game, having given up 29 goals in the six games.

"We can evaluate that any way you want," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Is it the goalie not fighting to find the puck, or we're not getting in the shooting lanes or not boxing out? There's usually a product of those things. So that's what's happening.

"We're not giving up."

KEY MOMENT

With Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar in the penalty box for an extended period of time after being called for cross-checking and roughing, Michael Bunting's goal at the 11:52 mark gave Nashville its 4-2 lead and seemingly drained the fight from the Knights.

"Kolesar gets involved with one of their guys and their benches ... that's an automatic penalty when you're in a scrum from the bench," Cassidy said. "So I think they blew that call, to be perfectly honest. They get a power-play goal out of it."

KEY STAT

298 - Defenseman Brayden McNabb played in his 298th straight game, the 13th longest active ironman streak in the NHL, dating back to March 30, 2022. That streak is now in jeopardy, however, after McNabb was involved in an unfortunate - and violent - neutral zone collision with Nashville's Michael Bunting in the second period. McNabb was down for a while, but upon getting to his feet, he went straight down the tunnel and didn't return.

"Talk about things that altered the game, that particular instance and what happened transpired after us, very disappointed in how we ended up on the wrong end of that on a blatant interference on Nabber," said Cassidy, who offered no details on McNabb's injury other than that it's upper body.

WHAT A KNIGHT

Paval Dorofeyev finished with two assists and now has at least one point in eight of the last 10 games. Dorofeyev, who has 10 points in the last 10 games (4 goals, 6 assists), ranks sixth on the team with 28 points (15 goals, 13 assists).

UP NEXT: The Golden Knights open a three-game homestand that will drop the puck on 2026, with a game against the St. Louis Blues.

PHOTO CAPTION: Nashville Predators defenseman Brady Skjei (76) clears the puck away from Vegas Golden Knights right wing Reilly Smith (19) during the third period at T-Mobile Arena.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.