On Wednesday, the Vegas Golden Knights (10-5-8) kicked off a four-game homestand against the Ottawa Senators (12-7-4). They fell behind early and had to claw their way back from two different two-goal deficits. They forced overtime, but fell 4-3 in a shootout.
The Senators broke the ice just 51 seconds into the first period. Shane Pinto entered the zone and chipped the puck off the boards to get around Zach Whitecloud. He collected the puck and fired a shot past Akira Schmid from an impossible angle.
The Senators struck again on the power play at 13:04 in the first. Tim Stützle batted down Brandon Saad’s clearing attempt, and Jake Sanderson found Claude Giroux in the left circle. Giroux passed back to Sanderson, who ripped a one-timer past Akira Schmid.
The Golden Knights got on the board at 16:52 in the first. From his own red line, Shea Theodore sent a 136-foot stretch pass to Mitch Marner at the Ottawa blue line. Marner entered the zone, pulled up, and left the puck for Brett Howden, who blew around Nick Jensen and scored.
Howden’s goal energized the Golden Knights, and they pressed for the equalizer. Their efforts were in vain; the Senators restored their two-goal lead with 17 seconds remaining in the first.
Linus Ullmark made a big save on Brett Howden, and Drake Batherson dumped Mitch Marner in front of the Ottawa net. Tim Stützle took the puck back the other way, drifted below the goal, and found Batherson in front of the net for a tap-in.
Brutal turn of events. Mitch Marner gets dumped in front of the Ottawa net, and the Sens go right down and score. Beauty of a pass from Tim Stützle, great finish from Drake Batherson.
3-1, Senators
— Hannah Kirkell (@h_kirk6) November 27, 2025
In the second period, the Golden Knights took control of the game. They outshot the Senators 11-7 and generated six high-danger chances to Ottawa’s one. Ultimately, they were rewarded for their efforts.
The Golden Knights cut Ottawa’s lead back to one just 2:09 into the period. Linus Ullmark came out to challenge Braedan Bowman and lost his balance after making the save. He was slow to his feet, and Ivan Barbashev found Jack Eichel all alone beside the empty cage for an easy tap-in.
In the third period, the Golden Knights continued their push and found the equalizer at the 6:40 mark. Tyler Kleven blocked Tomáš Hertl’s shot, and the puck went right to Mark Stone. Stone whiffed on his first passing attempt; on the second, the puck bounced off Tim Stützle’s skate and into the net.
The Golden Knights shut the Senators down for the remainder of the third period, outshooting them 11-5. They generated seven high-danger chances to Ottawa’s one, and controlled 799.32% of the expected goal share. However, Linus Ullmark stood tall and made several big saves, including one on Jack Eichel on a breakaway.
In overtime, the Golden Knights had two good chances; Ivan Barbashev hit the post, and Linus Ullmark made a save on Shea Theodore in tight.
In the shootout, Linus Ullmark made saves against Pavel Dorofeyev, Jack Eichel, and Mitch Marner. Akira Schmid stopped Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle, but Shane Pinto scored to give Ottawa the 4-3 win.
Three stars of the game: Shane Pinto, Jack Eichel, Mark Stone
7 Golden Knights Observations
1. The Golden Knights allowed the first goal for the 14th time this season. After tonight’s overtime loss, they have a record of 4-4-6 when allowing the first goal.
2. Mark Stone returned from injury after missing 16 games. He played 19:58, recorded three shots on net, and scored the game-tying goal in the third period. All things considered, he was probably the best Golden Knight on the ice. Not a bad return to the lineup.
3. The Marner–Howden–Stone line has some serious juice. They outshot their opponents 10-3 at 5-on-5. Of course, one of Ottawa’s three shots went in…
4. The Golden Knights are now 1-8 in games that have gone to overtime. Two of those losses came in a shootout, but that’s still a bad record. They’ve won just five of their last 16 games. Without the “loser points,” they’re not in a playoff position; even with them, they’re barely hanging on.
5. I don’t pretend to know why the Golden Knights do so poorly in overtime. However, when you look at the ice time of the players who typically play in overtime, it makes a bit of sense. Jack Eichel played 26:48 tonight, Noah Hanifin played 27:10. Shea Theodore led the way with 28:26 TOI.
6. Looking deeper, Ben Hutton played 7:10. Kaedan Korczak played 12:04. It’s not really a winning combination to play your third pairing a combined total of 19:14.
7. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it whenever necessary: shootouts are dumb. There is no reason for a glorified skills competition to dictate the outcome of a professional sporting event. Shootouts say nothing about either team involved, except that maybe one of the goalies is better at stopping a breakaway.