Not so sweet home: Golden Knights’ slide continues in 3-2 loss to Panthers

Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) watches as Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb (3) jumps over Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl (48) and Florida Panthers left wing A.J. Greer, right, during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Las Vegas. Photo by: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Any hope that a homestand would help the Golden Knights settle down and regain their scorching early-season form amid a rash of injuries is now gone.

Vegas dropped its third straight Monday night at T-Mobile Arena, coming on too late in a 3-2 defeat to the Florida Panthers. It was the Golden Knights’ second loss to the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions in 15 days as a 3-0 loss at the Panthers’ Amerant Bank Arena at the end of October started their current slump.

Vegas fell in two of three games on its first East coast trip of the season but a return to T-Mobile for six straight games was supposed to set them straight.

It hasn’t happened, as the Golden Knights go into the finale of the stretch Thursday night hosting the New York Islanders with a 1-3-1 record during their extended stay in Las Vegas.

They were pretty thoroughly beaten in two of the losses, against the Avalanche on Oct. 31 and the Lightning on Nov. 6, but arguably deserved a better result against the Ducks on Saturday and again versus the Panthers.

Vegas came out with a desperation against Florida and generated plenty of early chances; Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovksy was just up to the task in stopping them as he finished with 30 saves.

Vegas goalie Carl Lindbom looked decent in his own right, with 17 saves, but is still left searching for his first NHL victory after four starts following starter Adin Hill suffering a lower-body injury.   

He dealt with a lot of bodies in front of the crease Monday, with the traffic helping assist the first goal when Jesper Boqvist banged home a puck from the slot off a pass from defenseman Donovan Sebrango.

The first-period score gave the rookie Sebrango the first point of his NHL career in an eventful night for the Ottawa native. Sebrango stepped up to fight Vegas defenseman Jeremy Lauzon in the opening two minutes with some lingering animosity from the teams’ first matchup this season.

Lauzon easily won the fight, tossing Sebrango the ice and landing a few punches before the officials broke it up.

But Sebrango and the Panthers were the ones landing the blows for the rest of the night.

Florida increased its lead to 2-0 in the second period when Brad Marchand glided down the boards, crossed over Vegas defenseman Kaedan Korczak and flipped a backhand past Lindbom.

Bobrovsky meanwhile turned away high-danger shots from the likes of Mitch Marner, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev throughout the night.

Hertl ended up beating him at the beginning of the third period when he dove for a rebound off a Shea Theodore slap shot to cut the score to 2-1. But Vegas took its fourth of five penalties shortly afterwards, and Sam Reinhart scored on a power-play to regain the two-goal lead.

Ivan Barbashev answered when he batted down a deflected puck and blasted it past Bobrovksy with about 11 minutes to play.

The Golden Knights kept up their aggression — not allowing a single shot on goal for the rest of the game — but Bobrovsky stopped every puck thrown in his direction including a flurry with an extra skater in the final minute.       

Vegas looked like the better team but failed to get as much as a standing point for forcing overtime.

A once promising homestand has turned sour.

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