Knights ‘settle game down’ after Bowman ejection vs. Bruins

Enough years have passed to overlook any five-minute major jokes toward the Vegas Golden Knights’ way.

Any time they can get out of such a penalty unscathed, it’s worth noting, especially since it was a moment the Knights felt turned Monday’s game against the Boston Bruins in their favor.

The Knights gave up one goal on the five-minute penalty assessed to forward Braeden Bowman, who was ejected for elbowing Boston’s Matthew Poitras.

Bowman’s contact drew blood, which is what led to the first ejection of his career.

But the Knights overcame it. Outside of Boston forward Morgan Geekie’s goal 34 seconds into the extended power play, they didn’t allow any more damage.

“Moments in the game where we were able to tilt the ice, I thought that kill did a lot for us to get us going,” coach Ryan Craig said.

It kept the game within striking distance for the Knights, who tied it with goals from Mark Stone and Trevor Connelly.

The Knights earned a point, but couldn’t get the second in a 3-2 shootout loss at TD Garden.

“We didn’t give up a ton after that five-minute power play,” Stone said. “I thought we did a good job of settling the game down and getting to our game.”

Stone is right, to an extent. The Knights kept everything in their favor, particularly at five-on-five.

The Bruins had 10 shots in the third period. Six of them were at even strength. Two were considered high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The other four shots came on Boston’s power play late in the third when goaltender Carter Hart fired the puck over the glass for delay of game.

“I think they scored 30 seconds in (the first power play), so it was a quick one, then (we) killed the last four and a half,” Stone said. “Then we had a huge penalty kill to end the game with four, five minutes left. There was some good, some bad, but a step in the right direction.”

The Bruins might be considered fortunate they, too, didn’t play the rest of the game a man down.

Connelly left late in the first period after being drilled into the boards by Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Connelly, of course, returned and scored his team’s biggest goal of the game.

“Give him a ton of credit,” Craig said of Connelly. “A young kid in this league continuing to show why he belongs here, and scores a big goal for our hockey club.”

There’s an argument that should have been as harsh a penalty as Bowman’s because it did cause injury, even if only brief.

The Knights overcame that, and the loss of Bowman, to earn a point. That’s commendable. That only gets teams so far. They’ve now lost five of their last six games heading into Tuesday’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For a penalty kill that has been struggling the past two weeks, allowing that one goal is a positive to take out of it.

“They got a good power play over there. After you give up that first one up early, sometimes the momentum can swing in their favor. You can get on your heels a little bit,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “I thought we did a good job just staying aggressive, staying with it and not giving them too much after that.”

Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.