Golden Knights get wake-up call in loss to Flyers

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights got a painful reminder Thursday of how difficult it's going to be to make the sequel as good, or even better, than the original.

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"It's very frustrating being so bad at home for the opener," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said.
The Golden Knights were outworked and outplayed in a 5-2 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers at T-Mobile Arena on a night when they unveiled the two banners they earned in their inaugural season, one for winning the Pacific Division with 109 points and the other for winning the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"As a hockey player and as a team you always want to beat what you did the year before," forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "It's going to be hard, but it's definitely doable. We have the players to do that and we need to come back to our strengths. We have no superstars here except our goaltender so we need to start playing like we're going to outwork the opponent. If we do that, we'll have success."
Fleury didn't perform like a superstar against the Flyers, but he was hardly to blame.
He was replaced by Malcolm Subban with 9:49 remaining in the second period after allowing five goals on 16 shots. The Flyers scored off odd-man rushes, turnovers and tap-ins.
"It was on the team," coach Gerard Gallant said of why he pulled Fleury, who was pulled for performance only twice in 46 starts last season. "I didn't like the way we were playing. I didn't like the tap-in goals. Marc will be upset with himself, but it wasn't Marc-Andre Fleury. It was our team."

It was out of character from what we saw from the Golden Knights last season, when they won because of their team speed and their team game, when breakout stars like Marchessault and center William Karlsson emerged, combining for 153 points (70 goals, 83 assists).
On Thursday, they couldn't break the puck out of their zone. They couldn't connect passes together or get their cycle game going when they did get in the offensive zone.
"I just thought we played too soft," Gallant said. "We didn't stay at the front of the net. We talk about winning those blue paint battles and we lost those battles. I thought [the Flyers] deserved it."
Defensively, the Golden Knights were loose in the neutral zone and didn't come back into their own zone with the same type of speed and urgency that made them so tough last season.
Marchessault gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 6:37 of the first period, but the Flyers scored the next five goals, two from Wayne Simmonds, one from the goal line and one from about a foot off the goal line.
Philadelphia scored on one of four power plays. Vegas went 0-for-3.
"Maybe we didn't want to make any mistakes," Fleury said. "I think we got more on the heels a bit and they got a couple good bounces. It didn't feel like the way we could play. Even preseason, I thought we played good. We could be better."
He's right, but the challenge gets greater too.
The Golden Knights embark on a five-game road trip, with four games against teams that made the playoffs last season, starting at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The Wild defeated the Golden Knights three times by a combined 13-6 last season.
The road trip also features a back-to-back: Vegas plays the Washington Capitals on Wednesday in a rematch of last season's Stanley Cup Final, and faces the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. There is arguably no harder back-to-back for a Western Conference team coming east.
"We definitely set the bar high [last season]," Marchessault said. "I mean, the bar is really high. We had a great season last year, but we've got to stop talking about it. We have a new year and if we don't repeat what we did last year we won't make the playoffs. We've got to be sharper."
Fleury tried to find the silver lining.
"Getting embarrassed at home like this, maybe in the long run it's, not better, but a good wakeup to show us the way we have to play to have success," he said. "I think we know that. That's why I'm not too worried."