The Vegas Golden Knights held a seemingly comfortable four-point lead in the Pacific Division going into the three-week Winter Olympics break last month. But heading into Thursday’s contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the opener of a key four-game homestand, Vegas now finds itself in third place and just five points above the Western Conference playoff line.
The Golden Knights have dropped three in a row and six of their last seven contests, all in regulation. That’s just two points garnered over a seven-game span.
Poor starts — Vegas fell behind 3-0 four times in a five-game stretch — and shaky goaltending has been part of the problem. But the offense isn’t blame-free, either. With captain Mark Stone sidelined, the Golden Knights have produced just 13 goals in their last seven games.
Vegas comes in off a 2-1 loss at Dallas on Tuesday. Jack Eichel scored 91 seconds into the second period, but that was it for the Golden Knights as Jake Oettinger made 26 saves and Jamie Benn batted in a power-play 14:16 into the second period for what proved to be the game-winner.
Defenseman Shea Theodore, who assisted on Eichel’s goal, said no one is pushing the panic button yet despite the rough stretch.
“There’s no quit in our team, there’s no quit in the group,” Theodore said. “We’ve all been on stretches like this in our career. There’s a lot of winners in the locker room, too. Confident we can find a way to try and build out of this.”
The four-game homestand, which also includes games with Chicago, red-hot Buffalo and Utah, looks like a potential way to start a turnaround. That is until you realize Vegas has just 14 regulation wins in 31 home games (14-10-7).
“We just have to keep our head up,” defenseman Jeremy Lauzon said. “There’s a lot of games coming up, and move forward here. … Obviously, it’s hard for our group right now, but we’re a veteran group here. There’s a lot of experience in that room, and we’re going to turn that corner here.”
This is the second game of a five-game road trip for the Penguins that is bookended with contests at Carolina. Pittsburgh, second in the Metropolitan Division, opened the trip with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday to fall to just 1-10 in shootouts this season.
Still, it wasn’t a bad way to start the long cross-country trip for the Penguins. Pittsburgh pulled goalie Stuart Skinner and scored twice in the final 2:08 of regulation to tie it, 4-4, on goals by Noel Acciari and Bryan Rust, the latter on a rebound with just 36 seconds left.
“We certainly don’t give up in this room,” Rust said. “It says a lot about the guys in here.”
The Penguins performed the comeback without top scorer Sidney Crosby, out with a lower-body injury suffered playing for Team Canada against Czechia in the Olympics, and forward Evgeni Malkin, who is out until Monday’s game at Colorado while serving a five-game suspension for slashing Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin in the jaw last Thursday.
Crosby, who has 27 goals and 59 points in 56 games, took part in the team’s morning skate at Carolina and is expected to return at some point on the trip. He has been on IR since Feb. 25 when it was announced he was expected to be sidelined for four weeks.
“He’s moving in the right direction,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “Nothing has changed in his status, nothing has changed in everything else. We’re going to take it a day at a time, but it’s good having him out there.”
