The Vegas Golden Knights are reeling after a remarkable sequence of shootout defeats saw the team miss out on the NHL playoffs for the first time.
The Golden Knights went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season in 2017-18 and had reached the postseason in each subsequent year.
But that perfect record was ended by Wednesday's 4-3 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, which means Vegas can no longer overhaul the Dallas Stars in 2021-22.
That outcome, completing the 16-team line-up for the playoffs, required a sensational, unwanted streak for the Golden Knights.
The team lost three consecutive games in shootouts, including to the Stars on Tuesday, failing to score in any of the contests.
The Golden Knights went 0-for-17 across the three shootouts, with only one other NHL team ever losing three straight games via shootouts without scoring. The Florida Panthers went 0-for-9 over three games in 2011.
"I'm surprised. I'm disappointed," said coach Peter DeBoer. "I'm at the front of the line for responsibility.
"There's a lot of expectations on this team. It's not an easy thing and it doesn't feel good for anybody right now."
Wembanyama seeking recipe for success as record-breaking display fails to halt Spurs slide
Victor Wembanyama vowed the San Antonio Spurs will continue looking for "a good recipe" after his historic performance failed to prevent his team matching their franchise-record losing run.
At 19 years and 38 days old, the first overall draft pick became the youngest player in NBA history to post a 20-20 game, managing 21 points and 20 assists at home to the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
However, that performance was not enough to prevent a 121-112 defeat as the Bulls rallied after the interval, with Patrick Williams, Demar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic and Coby White all managing 20 points or more for Chicago.
San Antonio has now tied their all-time record losing streak of 16 games, while their 3-18 record is the worst they have ever managed through 21 games of a season.
Wembanyama – whose 20-20 game came when he was four days younger than previous record holder Dwight Howard – says it is still a case of trial and error after he starred from the center position against the Bulls.
"Experimenting in different areas of the game is always something important and interesting to me," Wembanyama said.
"Every game is different, but we're going to see and try until we find a good recipe.
"When our opponents are down at half, of course they're going to try and have a reaction. We've got to expect that every time, because our first half was pretty solid, especially defensively.
"There are ups and downs during the game, but we've got to get our downs less and less."
San Antonio's losing steak still stands three games short of that being endured by the Detroit Pistons, who are 2-20 after going down by a 123-91 scoreline against the Orlando Magic, their 19th straight loss.
Franz Wagner scored 27 points and Paolo Banchero added 24 for Orlando, with the Pistons now enduring the longest single-season losing streak in their franchise history and their second-longest overall.
Detroit previously lost 21 in a row across the end of the 1979-80 season and the start of 1980-81.
Though Pistons coach Monty Williams acknowledged the 15-7 Magic are a tough nut to crack defensively, he wasn't happy with his team's offensive efforts.
"They're a good defensive team but we missed a lot of open shots," Williams said after the defeat.
"They take away the paint, force you to play outside. We generated only 30 threes and just didn't hit a good percentage. We just had a hard time putting the ball in the basket tonight."
NHL: Edmonton Oilers earn sixth straight win
Evan Bouchard's second goal of the game broke a tie early in the third period and sent the resurgent Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
Edmonton won its sixth consecutive game and improved to 8-3-0 under Kris Knoublach, who replaced Jay Woodcroft as head coach on Nov. 12 after the Oilers got off to a 3-9-1 start.
Bouchard added an assist and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four assists to help the Oilers battle back twice from one-goal deficits. Stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each contributed a goal and an assist to back 17 saves from Stuart Skinner.
The Wild were outshot by a 40-20 margin but kept it close throughout behind 36 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury.
After Draisaitl's power-play goal late in the second period forged a 3-3 tie, Bouchard also converted a power-play chance 1:32 into the third to put Edmonton in front.
Bouchard's first of the night gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead after one period, but Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek each scored in the opening minute of the second to send the Wild ahead.
McDavid answered just 40 seconds after Eriksson Ek's goal, but Minnesota regained the lead on Connor Dewar's one-timer with 8:02 left in the second.
The Wild have now lost two straight after winning their first four games since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as head coach on Nov. 28.
Bobrovsky, Panthers extend Penguins' losing streak
Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and Eetu Luostarinen scored the deciding goal in the third period as the Florida Panthers came through with a 3-1 win over the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Aleksander Barkov also had goals to help the Panthers move to 4-1-1 over their last six games.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has now lost four straight (0-2-2) after failing to hold on to a 1-0 lead provided by Reilly Smith's goal 8:05 into the second period.
The Panthers drew even when Ekman-Larsson knocked in a rebound late in the second period, then took a 2-1 edge when Luostarinen sent a loose puck past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry with 6:10 elapsed in the third.
After Florida killed off a late Pittsburgh power play, Barkov sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining.
Jarry stopped 30 of 32 shots for the Penguins, who went 0 for 3 on the power play and have now gone 13 straight games without a man-advantage goal.
Greaves stars in NHL debut as Blue Jackets top Blues
Jet Greaves stopped 41 shots to win his first NHL game as the Columbus Blue Jackets pulled away for a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Yegor Chinakhov had two of three Columbus goals in the third period to support an outstanding debut from Greaves, called up from the minors Thursday after the Blue Jackets placed regular goaltender Elvis Merzlikins on injured reserve.
The 22-year-old rookie came up with 23 saves alone in the third period, during which Chinakhov scored twice in a span of under six minutes to stretch Columbus' lead to 4-1.
Chinakhov also assisted on Kirill Marchenko's goal that put the Blue Jackets ahead just 1:42 in, though Robert Thomas tied it for St. Louis later in the first period with the first of his two goals.
Adam Fantilli put Columbus back ahead with a shot past Blues goaltender Joel Hofer with 2:59 left in the opening period.
Thomas scored again with 2:22 remaining to get St. Louis within 4-2, but Alexandre Texier's empty-net goal in the final seconds ended any Blues' comeback hopes.
Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Blues have now dropped three of four. Hofer stopped 17 of 21 shots in defeat.
NHL: Kings shut out Canadiens for NHL-record 11th straight road win to open season
Cam Talbot stopped 24 shots and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday for their NHL-record 11th straight road win to open the season.
Quinton Byfield had two goals and an assist and Drew Doughty added a goal and an assist for the Kings, who surpassed the mark set by the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres.
Los Angeles is one road win away from matching the NHL record of 12 consecutive road victories at any point during the season.
The Kings have won three straight and eight of nine overall.
Montreal was shut out by the Kings for the second time this season after a 4-0 loss on Nov. 25.
Sharks rally to spoil Kane’s Red Wings debut
The San Jose Sharks overcame a four-goal deficit and spoiled Patrick Kane’s debut with the Red Wings in a 6-5 overtime victory.
Mikael Granlund scored 37 seconds into overtime and Nico Sturm and Tomas Hertl each scored twice for the Sharks, who have rallied from deficits of at least three goals to win consecutive games in OT.
Kane, a nine-time All-Star, signed a one-year contract with Detroit on Nov. 28. He didn’t record a point and hit the post early in the third period.
Michael Rasmussen scored twice for the Red Wings, who had won six of seven.
San Jose has won five of seven after winning just three times in its first 20 games.
Ovechkin hits milestone in Capitals’ shootout loss
Alexander Ovechkin recorded his 1,500th regular season point, but Roope Hintz scored twice in the third period and the Dallas Stars rallied for a 5-4 shootout win over the Washington Capitals.
Ovechkin assisted on Dylan Strome’s second goal of the game midway through the third period to become the 16th player in NHL history to reach that plateau.
Jason Robertson had two assists in regulation and scored the only goal in the shootout as Dallas rebounded from consecutive losses.
Aliaksei Protas and Evgeny Kuznetsov also had goals for the Capitals, who lost their third in a row (0-2-1).
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