What a week it was for the Golden Knights.
It started with Monday’s NHL trade deadline, when George McPhee made the blockbuster move to bring in star forward Mark Stone from the Senators. That was followed by four games in six days in which the Golden Knights went 4-0-0 and outscored their opponents 16-6.
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The dominant run is just what Vegas needed after a brutally tough stretch in February, and the Golden Knights are now eight points clear of the Coyotes for third place in the Pacific Division. It’s unlikely Arizona will catch Vegas down the stretch, and it’s even more unlikely the Golden Knights will challenge San Jose and Calgary for the top two spots in the division.
That means the team has 15 games remaining in the regular season, and not a lot to accomplish in the standings. So what should the Golden Knights focus on accomplishing over the last month of the regular season?
Here are the five most important things Vegas must do before entering the first round of the playoffs, in order from least-to-most important:
5. Play well against the best teams in the league
Following Vegas’ dominant 3-0 win over the Canucks on Sunday, coach Gerard Gallant still believes his team can play better.
“I think it’s getting better, but we still have another level,” Gallant said. “We want to get back to where we were, and this is a big step in the right direction.”
What is the next level?
“I think the next level is to play the same way on Wednesday,” Gallant replied.
The Golden Knights played brilliantly during this 4-0-0 stretch, but it was against Dallas, Florida, Anaheim and Vancouver. Gallant wants to see Vegas dominate teams that will be playing past April 6, and the first opportunity is Wednesday night as the Pacific Division-leading Calgary Flames visit T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas is 12-17-2 this season against teams currently in playoff position, and 24-9-3 against the rest of the league.
Of the remaining 15 games, eight of them are against teams currently in the playoffs, including two meetings with Calgary and two with San Jose (Vegas’ most likely first-round opponents). While winning these games won’t be crucial to the Golden Knights’ standing, it’s important they play well for their psyche entering the postseason.
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Which leads me to the next point:
4. Enter the playoffs with confidence
I was hesitant to include this point because I’m not a fan of intangibles. Teams win because they are better at hockey, not because they are “hungrier” or whatever other buzzwords you’d like to replace that with.
However, when I asked players what the most important thing they wanted to accomplish down the stretch, they all answered with some form of needing to enter the postseason with confidence, so I felt the need to include it.
“I think it’s just getting your confidence back,” Nate Schmidt said. “That’s something we really had last year. We never thought we were out of a game.”
He used an instance during Sunday’s game as an example. Ryan Carpenter just scored to extend Vegas’ lead to 2-0 during the second period, but the Canucks challenged the goal for goalie interference. Schmidt said the feeling on the bench was eerily similar to last season because of the air of confidence emanating from his teammates.
“It felt like that after the challenged goal,” Schmidt said. “We had a group that was excited to go out there and make it 2-0 again if we had to, or make it 3-0. That’s the type of flow to your game and mentality and demeanor, which is important to your team this time of year.”
Schmidt stressed the need for the Golden Knights to continue winning despite their cushion in the standings.
“You can’t just limp in,” Schmidt said. “You have to have that confidence. When it comes to playoffs you shut your brain off and it’s muscle memory at that point. You make the plays that you’ve made all year if you have the confidence to make them. And if you don’t, you won’t.”
3. Find offense from the third line
The Golden Knights Achilles’ heel — at least when it comes to offense — has long been the third line. But with the addition of Stone on the second line, Gallant may finally have an answer by dropping dynamic young forward Alex Tuch to the third.
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Cody Eakin is producing one of his better offensive seasons, but the majority of his 16 goals and 17 assists came with Tuch on the ice. Eakin filled in for Paul Stastny while he missed a stretch of games earlier in the season, but hasn’t produced the same since moving back down to the third line.
Eakin has been on the ice for 2.39 goals per 60 minutes without Tuch this season, but when he skates with Tuch that number jumps to 3.74. The results are similar for fellow third-line winger Brandon Pirri, who has been on the ice for 2.93 goals per 60 minutes without Tuch. With Tuch, Pirri is on the ice for 4.31 goals per 60 minutes.
“It reminds me a lot of Schmidt’s situation,” Pacioretty said, comparing the addition of Stone to when Schmidt returned to the Golden Knights’ lineup after missing the first 20 games due to a suspension. “When we missed (Schmidt) I think it put people in places that they weren’t comfortable in. It’s important to have a role on your team and feel comfortable and confident in that role. I think Stone came in and gave us balance throughout our lineup.”
Tuch scored a dynamic goal for the third line in Friday’s 3-0 win in Anaheim and helped the unit play some of its best hockey of the season on Sunday against Vancouver.
“It kind of puts everyone in a position to succeed in a role that they’re comfortable in,” Pacioretty said. “Our forward group now feels confident that whatever line you put on the ice, you have an opportunity to change the game.”
If Erik Haula — who hasn’t played since suffering a major knee injury on Nov. 6 — can return to the lineup, it really gives Vegas firepower on the third line. Either way, getting production outside of the top six should be a priority for the Golden Knights to figure out down the stretch.
2. Get consistent back pressure from the forwards
The Golden Knights are amongst the top of the league when it comes to nearly every defensive metric.
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They allow the third-fewest shot attempts per game at 52.82, the fourth-fewest scoring chances against at 24.71 and the fifth-fewest high danger chances against at 9.88.
Those numbers may come as a surprise because Vegas is lacking a star defenseman, but Vegas’ defensive core works extremely well together and is complemented by one of the best defensive forward groups in the NHL.
Stone certainly adds to it, but William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Pau Stastny and Eakin all excel in their own zone. In the middle of the season Vegas lost its identity as a strong defensive group, but lately it has returned to form.
“I think our defensive game was outstanding today, probably our best of the year,” Gallant said after Sunday’s 3-0 victory. “It was a consistent 60 minutes of playing defense first, then getting a lot of great scoring opportunities because of it.”
The Golden Knights haven’t allowed a goal in their past two games, largely because of the backchecking performances by their forward group.
“Colin (Miller) and I were talking about it between the first and second period,” Schmidt said. “It’s amazing how it comes full circle when the forwards apply back pressure really hard, and that allows us to break out quickly and get it back to them, and have them be able to play on the rush at full speed.”
When the forwards forecheck and backcheck with ferocity, it makes life difficult for opposing forwards and easy for Vegas’ defensemen. The pressure in the offensive zone creates havoc for opposing defenders trying to start breakouts. Pressure in the neutral zone prevents forwards from entering the offensive zone with speed, and coming all the way back into the offensive zone closes down passing lanes.
“I think it’s really important for our group tonight to have that type of push back from our forwards and quick breakouts by our defense,” Schmidt said.
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1. Set Marc-Andre Fleury up to peak in the postseason
The unquestioned, most important factor to a potential Stanley Cup run for the Golden Knights is the play of their Vezina Trophy candidate Marc-Andre Fleury. As Fleury goes, so will the Golden Knights, and he will need to once again be phenomenal in the postseason to give Vegas any chance at advancing.
Fleury has carried a heavy workload this season, currently on pace for 67 starts, which would be his highest total in four years. Managing his playing time in the final 15 games is vital to making sure he’s 100 percent when the games begin to really matter.
Vegas has three back-to-back scenarios remaining, and Gallant hinted that Malcolm Subban will get one leg of each of those. That means Fleury will play 12 of the remaining 15 games at most. Fewer than 10 would be ideal, but Fleury feels he can get the needed rest between games.
“I just want to take it one game at a time,” Fleury said. “The last few practices were optional and I’ve taken those off even though I usually always skate. I just manage the workload in the gym to stay fit.”
Fleury has skipped more optional skates than usual this season, and Gallant has no qualms with it.
“Fleury’s a guy who can take any day off that he wants besides playing in the games,” Gallant said. “He’s a rested guy. He feels real good and has lots of jump in his legs.”
It’s hard to argue with his recent results. Fleury hasn’t allowed a goal in his last 168:47 of game play, the longest shutout streak of his career.
“He’s played a lot of games, but he feels great now,” Gallant said. “People worry about him playing too many games. We talk to him about that and he says he feels good and wants to play the games. He gets his rest during the days off. He’s a true pro and he knows what he needs more than we do.”
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History isn’t on his side. As I wrote back in December, of the 13 Stanley Cup winning goaltenders since the beginning of the salary cap era in 2005, none played more than 70 games in the regular season, and only two of the 13 played more than 60 games.
Fleury leads all NHL players with 3,336 minutes of ice time this year, but says he feels great. Vegas’ schedule over the final month is kind, with four gaps of two days or more between games and one gap of four days with no contests from Mach 11-14.
Still, it would be wise for Vegas to give Subban some extra playing time to ensure Fleury is ready to carry the team into April, May and possibly June.
(Top Photo: Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)