Golden Knights' season opener spoiled by rival Kings with shootout loss

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (5) skates against Los Angeles Kings left wing Kevin Fiala (22) during the first period of an NHL hockey game at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. Photo by: Steve Marcus

The Golden Knights’ reimagined offense showed up in the season opener; their transitioning defense did not.

Vegas began the 2025-2026 season with a 6-5 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

For one night, the loss of longtime stalwart defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to injury and semi-retirement appeared to override the trade addition of superstar winger Mitch Marner.

The former Toronto Maple Leaf standout Marner saw his final shot saved by Kings goalie Anton Forsberg to lock up a shootout victory for the visitors.

Jack Eichel also failed on his own shootout attempt, while Pavel Dorofeyev made one to keep Vegas in it. Los Angeles got scores from Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore during the shootout.

Dorofeyev, last season’s leading scorer, was considered a gametime decision with a lower-body injury but sure looked 100% by the time the second period started. He single-handedly wiped away 2-0 and 3-1 Kings’ leads with a hat trick in the second period.

Dorofeyev wristed in Vegas’ first goal of the season from beyond the faceoff circle early in the second period, then cashed in on two late power-play scores with assists from Mark Stone and Jack Eichel on both.

Eichel had a big night hours after signing an eight-year, $108 million contract extension with three assists and a goal. He followed Dorofeyev’s three goals with a go-ahead score from right in front of Kings backup goalie Anton Forsberg.

Passes from linemates Mitch Marner and Ivan Barbashev sliced through the Kings’ defense to put Eichel in prime position. Barbashev was the beneficiary of the superstar pair’s playmaking prowess less than four minutes later when he scored from a similar spot to Eichel.

Marner and Eichel each banked assists on the play. The Golden Knights were touted as possibly the best passing team in the league coming into the season with the former Maple Leafs star Marner coming over to join Eichel.

They lived up to the hype in the first night. Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, concern about their defense also proved founded.

A 5-3 lead after Barbashev’s goal with less than 12 minutes to play might have sounded commanding, but the Golden Knights squandered it with blue-line breakdowns.

First, Kings forward Trevor Moore scored a shorthanded goal off a Golden Knights’ turnover. Then, young defenseman Brandt Clarke came barreling down the slot to tie the game with six minutes to play.

Andrei Kuzmenko, Quinton Byfield and Jeff Malott scored Los Angeles’ earlier goals.

It wasn’t an encouraging start for Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who had a save percentage of .808 with five goals on 26 shot attempts. Forsberg outplayed him by stopping 30 of 35 shots on goal, as Vegas’ offense showed signs of improvement from the unit that labored throughout last year’s playoffs and this year’s preseason.

Vegas backup goalie Akira Schmid is expected to see his first action of the year tomorrow night when the team travels to take on San Jose.

This is a developing story. Check back later for more coverage.