For a long time Friday night, we thought the Ottawa Senators could be a big winner, but like so many before them, they left Las Vegas empty-handed. The Knights exploded with three goals late in the third period to beat Ottawa 6-4.

The Senators held a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes and looked like they could carry that lead all the way home. But an ill-advised and easily applied interference penalty against Ottawa’s Nick Cousins ​​sparked Vegas’ comeback. With the extra man, Tomas Hertl made a perfect passing play as Vegas tied it up with 3:11 left.

60 seconds later, the Sens officially let the two points slip away when all three Senators forwards found themselves caught deep. In the reverse race, Keegan Kolesar beat Linus Ullmark with a wrist shot to win. Vegas then added an empty net to put it away.

Linus Ullmark has been inconsistent in his return to the lineup with some crucial saves and a few he would probably want back. He allowed five goals on 27 shots as the Senators outshot Vegas 39-28.

Adam Gaudette scored twice for the Senators. He was the AHL’s leading scorer last year and the Hobey Baker winner in 2018, so it shouldn’t be a big surprise that there’s a lot of skill in there waiting to break out in the NHL.

Gaudette’s last NHL goal was more than two and a half years ago, during his first stint with the Senators, who brought him back this summer in a two-way deal. He was well known to Senators head coach Travis Green, who sent him to Vancouver, where Gaudette had his best days in the league.

Other Ottawa scorers were Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson. Cole Reinhardt got his first NHL point on a nice central pass to Gaudette to open the scoring.

The Senators’ record drops to 4-3 and their next game, the last of a three-game road trip, is at Colorado on Sunday night.