Golden Knights Left Asking Questions On Offensive Woes After 3- 1 Loss to Flames
Vegas averaging 2.09 goals per game since Dec. 17.
When Chandler Stephenson one-timed a Mark Stone pass at 8:54 of the third period in a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, it ended a couple of droughts.
It was Stephenson’s first goal since Dec. 17.
It also ended stretch of 184:34 without a 5-on-5 goal.
The Golden Knights are, simply put, struggling on the offensive end.
Since Dec. 17, they are averaging 2.09 goals per game with a bulk coming on the road trip to Florida and Carolina and the New York Islanders home game. They’ve been shutout twice during that stretch, have scored two or less goals in seven of the 11 games.
If you were to remove the outburst against the Islanders, the Golden Knights’s goal per game drops to 1.80 since Dec. 17.
It doesn’t help that Jack Eichel and William Karlsson are injured either. While losing both hurts, it doesn’t help that guys like Jonathan Marchessault (goalless since Dec. 21) and Ivan Barbashev (goalless since Dec. 28) aren’t producing.
“The system we play, it's been it's been good for us. We just have to execute them,” Marchessault said. “It’s been a while and we got to find a way to get out of my slump.”
Defenseman Zach Whitecloud went into detail as to how the defensemen can help the forwards get out of their slump. He said the defensemen can do a better job getting the pucks to the forwards and hit them in stride to help with breakouts.
But the issue mostly has to do with finishing and puck luck.
The Golden Knights had a Corsi of 81, and an expected goals of 2.99 against the Flames. They generated 46 scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick and had nine high-danger chances in all situations.
Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves and was spectacular, but Vegas also shot the puck 23 times that missed the net all together.
“As the game went on, we did a better job with [generating puck luck], but nothing found our stick in the right spot where we could finish. We do have some guys now in that middle group that have been in the league a few years that have really haven't produced in a long time,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “When you take other guys out of the lineup that typically do [produce], someone else has to fill in for those goals right or it's got to be out of your net less.”
Now, all this is concerning if you’re a Golden Knights fan, but a similar thing happened last season.
From Jan. 7 to 28, the Golden Knights averaged 2.00 goals per game, and that includes a game where they scored six.
The Golden Knights are in a slump.
Whether or not they correct soon, however, is the question.
But with Eichel, Karlsson and Shea Theodore out, it leaves the Golden Knights searching for dynamic scoring options.
It’s not going to be easy, then again, nothing is, especially in the NHL.
“You got a find a way to do a job because they don’t care what you’ve done in the past,” Marchessault said. “You have to take the opportunity in front of you and right now, we don’t have a lot of guys doing that.”
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