"Sin City Sadness": 2025-26 Regular Season, Game 6: Carolina Hurricanes at Vegas Golden Knights

With the first half of their road trip completed, the Hurricanes move onto the tougher half, beginning with the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night. In this early-season battle between NHL heavyweights, neither side enters in great health, with the Canes down two defensemen and Vegas missing their captain and an incredible defender of their own. Still, there is plenty of firepower in the lineup for both sides as they each look to avoid their first regulation loss of the season on Monday night.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

VGK (8:42)- Jack Eichel (6) (Brandon Saad (1) & Ivan Barbashev (5))

VGK (10:28)- Pavel Dorofeyev (7) (Mitch Marner (7) & Tomas Hertl (4))

2nd Period

CAR (4:18)- Sebastian Aho (2) (Seth Jarvis (3) & Nikolaj Ehlers (1))

3rd Period

VGK (11:06)- Ivan Barbashev (3) (unassisted)

VGK (18:23)- William Karlsson (3) (Mitch Marner (8) & Shea Theodore (2))

My Thoughts

There's no point in belaboring the negatives, so let's talk about some of the better aspects of this game. The Hurricanes' top line finally came together and saw all three forwards find the scoresheet, meaning Nikolaj Ehlers is officially on the board with his first point. It was a beautiful play, begun by Ehlers in the neutral zone with his speed. A lot of people misconstrue Ehlers' lack of production for "not playing well," but he has fit in just fine with the Canes. He's been setting up his linemates with great chances through the first five games as well. The only difference is that now he was rewarded for it. He could've had three or four assists in this game. He set up the Canes' best chance to tie it in the third period, but Seth Jarvis was denied at the top of the crease. Hopefully, this is a building block for the line.

I won't allow any Frederik Andersen slander to enter the conversation, especially after his performance last night. He might've been the Hurricanes' best player on Monday night. The work he did to keep it a two-goal game after Pavel Dorofeyev's goal gave his team every chance to make a comeback. He faced the tougher challenges. Honestly, he contended with more bad luck than anything. His save on Dorofeyev's one-timer in the second period is as good a save as we'll see all season, sticking his glove out to rob a surefire goal. I need to give credit to Akira Schmid, too. He came into the game about 10 minutes in after Adin Hill suffered an apparent lower-body injury. It was a non-contact injury as he moved side to side. Schmid was phenomenal at keeping the Canes at bay.

As good as both K'Andre Miller and Alexander Nikishin have been in the early going, this was a rough night for both of them. We can argue until we're blue in the face about whether Miller was slashed or tripped by Ivan Barbashev before his dagger in the third period. I've seen many online with strong opinions on the matter. I don't think there was much there, and I attribute Miller's tumble to his tight turn. Regardless, it was just another in a list of tough moments for him tonight. Miller had the opening goal go off his stick and through Andersen's pads, giving Vegas an early 1-0 lead. He finished the night at -3. Nikishin put up decent numbers (5 blocks, 4 hits), but he looked a bit off tonight as well. He didn't have nearly the impact we've seen him have over the last two weeks. He also failed to prevent a goal, unable to get his glove on a pass that led to Dorofeyev's goal.

In the end, it's the first loss of the season, which felt like an inevitability with the three games on the schedule this week. The Canes played just fine, but the Golden Knights capitalized on almost every mistake the Canes made. It's part of why Vegas is one of the final teams without a regulation loss in the league. Jack Eichel was every bit as dangerous as his early-season point total indicated. Mitch Marner added two more assists, though his overall impact felt a little understated. Pavel Dorofeyev has turned into an excellent find for Vegas. Not to mention, they did all of this without their captain, Mark Stone. The Golden Knights will be in Raleigh next Tuesday, so we'll get to see these two go at it again in short order.

First Star of the Game: Frederik Andersen

I've already said that Frederik Andersen was the team's best player on Monday. He made a few big stops to prevent the game from getting out of hand, including a timely stop of Jack Eichel's short-handed breakaway early in the second period. He finished the night with 23 stops, turning in a good performance despite the result.

Next Up: The Hurricanes have two stops remaining on their six-game trip, needing just one win to ensure a winning trip. They'll head to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday before finishing their trip in Dallas on Saturday. Vegas will be in town for the first home game in over two weeks next Tuesday, and the Canes conclude October with a Halloween Eve tilt with the New York Islanders.