Despite icing a roster rich with talent, the Vegas Golden Knights often find themselves in an offensive rut. Their season has been defined by highs and lows, all dictated by game-to-game shooting percentages and a sporadic inability to finish.
Struggling to score isn’t a new issue for the Golden Knights— this has been a problem for a few years now. This struggle is, of course, most evident in the playoffs because of how little time and space they have. Everyone always says that it’s harder to score in the postseason. And for the third year in a row, an inability to solve that particular problem might send the Golden Knights to an early vacation.
The Golden Knights have scored just three goals at 5-on-5 over the first two games of this series against the Utah Mammoth. Two of those three goals came in Game 1, and they both came from the fourth line composed of Cole Smith, Nic Dowd, and Colton Sissons. That’s been their best line at 5-on-5, which simply can’t continue.
In a seven-game series, it’s important not to get too high or too low. It’s not yet time to hit the panic button. But alarms have to be flashing as a familiar demon rears its ugly head once more.
Their saving grace has been their power play, which helped them win Game 1 and kept them in Game 2. But even if the Golden Knights boasted a power play to rival the one that the Edmonton Oilers had in 2023, that’s not a long-term recipe for success.
The Mammoth seemed to break through at 5-on-5 in Game 2, and it’s up to the Golden Knights to respond on Friday.
Utah’s brightest stars are showing up, and the Golden Knights can’t say the same. They also haven’t found an answer for Kailer Yamamoto, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Guenther. In 17:19 TOI, that line outshot their opponents 13-5 and outscored them 2-0. And it’s not a fluke— they’ve generated five high-danger scoring chances while limiting their opponents to one.
And just think: for the next two games, the Mammoth have the last change.
Quite frankly, if the Golden Knights didn’t have such a strong penalty kill, they would likely be on their way to Salt Lake City down 2-0 in the series. Their penalty kill, which was tied for 6th in the league during the regular season, remains one of their greatest strengths. That success when down a man has carried over into the playoffs, and the Mammoth are 0-fer on five power play chances.
But the Mammoth are probably going to score a power play goal eventually. And when that happens, the Golden Knights will need to respond by breaking through at 5-on-5 unless they want to see their season abruptly end.