Bad things came for the Golden Knights in threes Thursday night.
The Knights’ re-worked third line and third defensive pair struggled against the Philadelphia Flyers and played a large part in their 5-2 season-opening loss at T-Mobile Arena. Defensemen Nick Holden and Jonathan Merrill were on the ice for three of the Flyers’ goals and forwards Tomas Nosek, Oscar Lindberg and Ryan Carpenter failed to make up for key absences.
“I felt we played a little slower than we usually did,” Merrill said. “We didn’t move the puck as quickly as we usually do.”
The Knights put Nosek, Lindberg and Carpenter together with forwards Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin on injured reserve, and the latter two were missed.