Remember when the Vegas Golden Knights were humiliated by the Pittsburgh Penguins a while back? It was a couple of Sundays ago, when the Golden Knights were shut out, 5-0. On top of that, Mark Stone was gone to an upper-body injury.

It kickstarted a terrible Eastern Time Zone swing that only saw one win from the entire trip. Mind you, the Detroit Red Wings blew a two-goal lead in that one, losing in overtime in the process. However, the Golden Knights haven’t done anything of substance aside from that win since that embarrassing loss.

Certainly, you’d hope that the boys would learn some harsh lessons and take their bumps. After all, the Golden Knights don’t have much time left to catch up to the Anaheim Ducks and take the Pacific Division. If they don’t win, they’re staring down the barrel of a first-round exit or worse: missing the playoffs.

So, let’s see what Vegas can do to rectify their problems. That means looking at that humiliating loss and learning some valuable lessons. Yes, they mustn’t allow 50 billion goals on Thursday. However, it’s much deeper than playing solid defense and having great goaltending.

The Golden Knights must finish their opportunities against the Pittsburgh Penguins

Let’s put things into perspective for a second. The Golden Knights only have one first-period goal in their last seven games. It’s part of why they’ve only scored 13 goals in that span. The problem? Finishing.

It’s been frustrating (and I mean FRUSTRATING) to watch this team not nail solid scoring chances. Watching forwards like Braeden Bowman and Ivan Barbashev mishandle passes has been the hockey equivalent of waiting 45 minutes for your McDonald’s order to come to you.

Therefore, the Golden Knights must do something that has eluded them throughout the 2025-26 season: get a handle on the puck. That means no fumbling it on the stick and actually working on the ol’ hand-eye coordination.

Of course, this was a major problem for the Golden Knights in that devastating loss. Yes, only getting 22 shots on goal is also embarrassing and the Penguins are actually respectable in net. However, there’s no excuse for Vegas to not utilize their abundant offensive talent.

If that doesn’t happen, the Golden Knights will continue their freefall out of a playoff spot. That’s something that will be the talk of the town for the entire summer. That’s also something that fans aren’t prepared for, given that they’ve been spoiled with winning for nearly a decade.