VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS VS COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 11/5/2019

After back-to-back home overtime losses where they blew two-goal leads in the third period, the Vegas Golden Knights begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday night at Columbus.

Vegas went just 1-3 during a homestand that started with an ugly 6-1 loss to Colorado followed by a 5-2 victory over Anaheim. But the Golden Knights' inconsistent play showed up in both a 5-4 overtime loss to Montreal on Thursday and again in a 4-3 overtime loss to Winnipeg on Saturday.

Both the Canadiens and Jets were playing on the second half of back-to-backs against the well-rested Golden Knights. Yet, it was Vegas who faded badly in both losses after good starts.

"We played 30 minutes well and 30 minutes no so good," defenseman Nate Schmidt said following the Winnipeg loss. "That's just not going to be good enough."

"We didn't play our game," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "We backed off. We were too loose.

"It's a couple games now that we've backed off, so we've got to be more aggressive. We talk about it all the time. When our forecheck is good and our defense is aggressive on the forecheck, we're a good team. When our backcheck isn't as good and our defensemen back in all the time, it's not going to work. You're not going to win in this league doing that."

Center Jonathan Marchessault is hoping a change of scenery might help. The four-game trip also includes stops at Toronto on Thursday followed by a back-to-back against Washington on Saturday and Detroit on Sunday.

"I think we need to reset," Marchessault said. "We've got a big trip ahead of us, a lot of good teams. We've got to start with the first one and see where it brings us. ... I think the last two games we should have won. It's just unfortunate. But tomorrow is a new day and we need to focus on the road trip."

The good news for Vegas is that goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who leads the league with eight victories but missed Saturday's loss with the flu, was back on the ice for Monday's practice and is expected to be back in nets on Tuesday.

While the Golden Knights have had problems finishing games this season, Columbus is focused on starting better after dropping its fourth straight game, 3-0, to Calgary on Saturday.

The Blue Jackets, who were coming off a 4-3 overtime loss at St. Louis on Friday, looked sluggish at the start. The Flames jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 3:44 into the game on a Sean Monahan goal and made it 2-0 midway through the second period on a goal by Sam Bennett. David Rittich had 43 saves to earn the shutout.

Midway through the first period during a TV timeout, Columbus coach John Tortorella gathered his team around the bench and gave it an animated tongue-lashing.

"There's no question our start was terrible," Tortorella said. "It's unacceptable how we started the game."

The Blue Jackets are 5-0-0 when scoring first this season and 0-6-3 when not.

"We've got to get ourselves out of it," Tortorella said of his team's 0-3-1 streak. "We need to get back to where we were playing. We will. That's just how the league is. Sometimes there is no explanation. You lose your game. There's a number of guys really squeezing their sticks. We've just got to work ourselves through it."