Golden Knights downed by Devils, Hellebuyck in Nevada Day matinee

Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Oct 30, 2026

Published in Hockey

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LAS VEGAS —The Vegas Golden Knights already knew the New Jersey Devils were not going to give them a ton of shots.

Add the best goaltender in the world to that mix, and it was a frustrating combination for the Knights in a 5-2 loss to the Devils at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

New Devils netminder Connor Hellebuyck finished with 19 saves in his second start since the blockbuster trade with the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 23.

“We didn’t test (Hellebuyck) enough,” Knights coach Ryan Craig said. “Playing his second game, he probably saw a lot of those pucks. … (There) just wasn’t enough consistency.”

Knights goaltender Adin Hill saw a larger workload with 26 saves in his second straight start.

Captain Mark Stone and winger Ivan Barbashev scored for the Knights (9-5-1), who lost for the fourth time in five games.

“I think our execution for the last 10 days hasn’t been at the level we needed it to be,” Craig said.

The Devils (9-5-0) were carried by their top line. Star center Jack Hughes and left wing Arseny Gritsyuk each scored twice and were each a plus-4.

But the Knights felt they handed the Devils most of their offense. They were credited with 15 giveaways, compared to New Jersey’s eight.

“I feel like we gave them everything they wanted to do,” Barbashev said.

Both goaltenders had strong games, but the difference in workload was vast. Hill was the busier of the two, and it showed on the scoreboard after 40 minutes.

The Devils took a 4-2 lead after scoring twice in the second period.

Hughes broke a 2-2 tie with a highlight-reel goal at 3:49 of the second, dangling the puck between Stone’s legs and finishing with a snapshot in close.

“Just caught them gapping up,” Hughes said. “Obviously a good play and a good goal.”

Gritsyuk, who scored with 1:09 left in the first period, scored with 1:44 remaining in the second while following up his own rebound with a backhand.

“We didn’t manage (the puck),” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “We didn’t have a forecheck. We weren’t hard enough.”

The Knights led 2-1 with 2:03 left in the first period. Stone scored a power-play goal with 3:33 left, and Barbashev finished a perfect passing play 1:30 later.

Gritsyuk tied it 54 seconds later.

“I’d say we didn’t help ourselves,” Craig said. “New Jersey is a good team, and they capitalized on that. It starts with our puck play and turnovers, and when we didn’t have it, I didn’t think we checked well enough tonight.”

New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes opened the scoring at 5:38 of the first after Knights defenseman Ville Heinola turned it over in the defensive zone.

Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb recorded an assist in his 900th NHL game.

The Knights have hit a snag offensively with 11 goals in the past five games. There’s no concern with it being the 15th game of the season, but Theodore said there’s plenty to work on, starting in their own zone.

“There’s other parts of our game that we have to work on and we have to get better,” Theodore said. “It starts defensively. You can’t give up five and expect to win. We’re going to be better.”