After Friday’s near-comeback, the Vegas Golden Knights have a simple assignment on this brief two-game swing through the Pacific Northwest: clean up the mistakes that put them in a hole in the first place.
That starts with one obvious fix. Vegas cannot keep digging itself into a 4-0 deficit.
That was a familiar issue last season, when goal after goal kept piling up against them. Adin Hill was the starter then, and Bruce Cassidy stayed with him, but the lesson still applies now: the Knights have to stop giving opponents that kind of runway.
The defensive work in front of the goaltender has been uneven through the first two games. Against the Chicago Blackhawks, Vegas did a good job of keeping dangerous chances to a minimum and gave Carter Hart plenty of support.
Against the Anaheim Ducks, that structure fell apart, and the Ducks scored four times. Hart deserves some of the blame, but not all of it.
The gaps were there, and the Knights did not do enough to clear rebounds or protect the crease.
That becomes even more important with Vancouver and Seattle on deck. The Canucks have already piled up 17 goals to start the season, and the Kraken opened with six against the Calgary Flames. If Vegas does not tighten up in its own end, this trip could get ugly in a hurry.
The Knights also need more from Mitch Marner. He has been unusually quiet to open the season, with just one assist and no points in Vegas’s 5-2 win on Tuesday.
This would be a good week for that to change. Marner has a history of bouncing back in a big way, and two rebuilding opponents offer the right setting for him to do it.
And then there’s the start. Vegas showed one version of itself by scoring two first-period goals against Chicago.
It showed the other version on Friday by failing to score at all against Anaheim. Against Vancouver and Seattle, the Knights need to be the team setting the tone early, not chasing the game later.
The Canucks and Kraken are not the kind of teams that should be overwhelming Vegas off the rush. That leaves the Golden Knights with a clear path: attack early, stay sharp defensively, and make this road trip worth four points.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Keep Reminding Vancouver How One-Sided This Matchup Is
Marc Gatcombs go-ahead goal helped the Golden Knights edge the Canucks 3-2, with Adin Hill stopping 17 shots and Vegas getting enough offense from Mitch Marner and Victor Olofsson to keep control of a game that stayed tight throughout. Paul Cotter and Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored for Vancouver, but the result fit a familiar pattern in this matchup, one that has leaned heavily Vegas way for a long time.
The win pushed Vegas to 22-4-3 all-time against the Canucks, a run of success that has made these meetings look more like a test of whether Vancouver can finally break through than a true even-money rivalry. Hills latest victory over his division foe also continued a personal trend, as he has now beaten the Canucks five straight times, another small but telling detail in a series the Golden Knights keep finding ways to own. [Read more 🡒]
Chandler Stephenson Is Giving Golden Knights Fans A Tough Early Reminder
Chandler Stephenson is wasting no time making Seattle look like a smart fit. Through two games, the former Golden Knights center has already put up four points, including two assists in a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames, giving the Kraken the kind of immediate offensive lift they were hoping for when they brought him in.
For Vegas fans, it is an early reminder of how much Stephenson meant over five seasons in the desert. He was a key part of the Golden Knights 2022-23 Stanley Cup run, so seeing him start this quickly in a new uniform is the sort of thing that sticks with a fan base, even this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Former Golden Knight Is Suddenly Making Vegas Fans Feel This Loss
Paul Cotter did not need long to remind Golden Knights fans what they gave up. In Vancouver, the former Vegas forward scored on the power play against his old team, giving the Canucks another early-season jolt from a player who has come out flying. It has been the best start of his NHL career, with five points in three games, and the production is arriving fast enough to make his departure from Vegas feel a little sharper.
Still, the night ended with the result the Golden Knights wanted, as they slipped past Vancouver 3-2. Mitch Marner, Victor Olofsson and Marc Gatcomb supplied the goals that mattered most for Vegas, turning Cotters moment into little more than a reminder of how much talent has moved out of the organization. For Knights fans watching from afar, it was the kind of game that stings twice: first when the old familiar name scores, then again when you realize he is starting to look very comfortable somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]