Las Vegas, N.V.– On Thursday, the Vegas Golden Knights played their first home game of the preseason. They hosted the Utah Mammoth and, after a two-goal comeback, escaped with a 5-4 overtime win.
Preseason games can be low-energy, and they tend to drag on. In this one, however, there was no shortage of energy– or extracurricular activities. Even though the Mammoth sent very few veterans to Vegas, it seemed that some of the bad blood carried over from last year’s first-round playoff matchup.
“I’m not really [surprised],” said defenseman Noah Hanifin postgame. “Anytime you have a camp this short, I think the intensity is going to be ramped up. I think it’s perfect. You want to play those types of games where the pace is up and the contact’s high. It gets you ready. I thought it was a good first one for us.”
1. Turn the Blender On!
Just because it’s the preseason doesn’t mean that you can’t put the lines in the blender. Beginning about halfway through the second period, head coach Ryan Craig made his fair share of line adjustments.
Rookie phenom Trevor Connelly got a few shifts on the top line alongside Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. Victor Olofsson, too, had a stint on the first line; he also took shifts on the second line with William Karlsson and Mitch Marner. Brett Howden played a good chunk of the third period alongside Tomáš Hertl and Braeden Bowman, but ended the game back with Karlsson and Marner.
“I think [I was just] giving guys different looks with different players, seeing some familiarity with some guys,” said head coach Ryan Craig following the 5-4 victory. “Olofsson jumped around left and right— Bowman did the same thing, Røndbjerg did the same thing. As the game went on, I got back to it; I just kind of wanted to see if, as we were playingbetter, did we get something more out of the lines we started with? And we did.
“As for the combinations, that could be how it works on some nights,” Craig finished. “I think special teams dictated a little bit of that, like it always does.”
2. New Kid on the Block
It’s been a long, long time since the Golden Knights have had a prospect step out onto the ice during training camp and look this good. But, recency bias aside, there’s a reason that people are high on Trevor Connelly. Connelly has clearly taken Bonnie Raitt and Shirley Eikhard’s advice to heart– he’s giving them something to talk about.
Tonight’s preseason game was no different. Connelly is a playmaker, and he’s a guy who creates offense. He’s playing his game. He still hasn’t found his way onto the scoresheet, but it’s only a matter of time.
“I thought Trevor played well. He had some energy,” said head coach Ryan Craig. “I thought he played to what his identity is as a player. I thought he was in some battles. He had the puck. He used his feet to escape and looked to attack. That’s what Trevor does.”
It’s just the preseason, but for now, Connelly looks ready to take the next step. His teammates certainly think so.
“Trevor [Connelly] was really noticeable,” offered Jack Eichel postgame. It was great to see that for him. This is his first crack at it, so I’m really happy for him. I thought he played great, and he’s gonna be a big part of this group.”
“I think he showed a lot today,” said Victor Olofsson, Connelly’s linemate. “He’s a very skilled player. He made a lot of good plays today and created a lot of good chances for us. He’s very fast, very dynamic. He’s got a good shot, and some good vision too. I think he’s a very exciting player.”
3. Give the People What They Want!
There are two things that coaches cherish during the preseason, and only the preseason: overtime and shootouts. Tonight, Ryan Craig got both. Jack Eichel completed the comeback for the Golden Knights and won the game for them 39 seconds into overtime, but because both teams agreed to do a shootout, they did one.
The players– and head coach Ryan Craig– also appreciated getting the chance to deploy their 6-on-5 unit.
“Those are situations that come up quite often in the season,” said Jack Eichel postgame. “It was good to be able to capitalize on them. We had a power play late in the game and were able to get one, and then obviously 6-on-5. And overtime was something that we struggled with a bit last year, and we’ve taken a look at during training camp and how we can be better at it. Those are good situational moments during a game where it was nice to see success.”
“Yeah, I said this morning that we were gonna try to practice every situation, so we did,” laughed head coach Ryan Craig. “But we had four power plays, a couple of penalty kills. Well, one was really short. But I think to see overtime, [meant that] all the things that we’ve talked about, we can now revisit if we need to. [This was] just a game that we got a lot out of, I would say.”
