The Devils Made Them Do It: Puck Management Strikes Again As Golden Knights Squander Early Lead

Las Vegas, N.V.— When the Vegas Golden Knights took the ice on Friday at T-Mobile Arena, they did so dressed to the nines in their road whites for their annual Nevada Day game. They played well for much of the first period and even led 2-1. But as the first period drew to a close, a recurring problem reared its ugly head.

The New Jersey Devils came to town high on the acquisition of Connor Hellebuyck. They were already an excellent team, and adding a Vezina-winning goaltender makes them even more dangerous. But on Friday, the Golden Knights once again dug their own grave and fell victim to self-inflicted injuries in an ugly 5-2 loss that detracted from how incredible they looked in their road whites.

“I think our execution for the last 10 days hasn’t been at the level we needed it to be,” said head coach Ryan Craig following the 5-2 loss. “For me, it’s an opportunity for us to continue to push through, right? Are we gonna stay together? Are we gonna continue to do the right things, to work on our execution? 

“By that, I mean, support the puck, be in the right areas, help ourselves with that,” Craig continued. “Execution, sometimes, a lot of times, comes down to decision making. And sometimes our execution can be lacking if we’re jamming pucks into there, if the support’s not there, if we’re not in the right areas. It’s not necessarily just the guy with the puck. These are things we’ll look at.”

Although the Golden Knights didn’t get the result they wanted today, one silver lining is worth mentioning. Brayden McNabb– the all-time leader for games played in a Golden Knights jersey with 662– skated in his 900th career game today.

McNabb’s style of play isn’t easy. He has recorded 1,681 blocked shots and thrown 2,053 hits over his 15-year NHL career. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and players who do their team’s dirty work to the extent that McNabb does don’t often reach 900 career games.

“He means everything [to the team],” said Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev. “He’s been here since day one, and he’s been in the league for many years. He’s a huge part of our team. He’s a leader; when I came here, he helped a lot. I think he still helps a lot of guys. He takes care of the defensemen. He’s just a great player— he blocks shots and just does everything right for our team.”

“He’s been a leader here from the start,” agreed McNabb’s defensive partner Shea Theodore. “He plays a good, hard game. To watch him play in his 900th… It doesn’t go unnoticed, the hard work that he puts in. Good for him.”

This Golden Knights team is stacked from top to bottom with offensive talent, and they have been for quite some time. However, over the past few years, when they’ve gone through rough patches, it always seems to come back to an inability to consistently finish their chances.

The offensive scoring drought has come back with a vengeance over the past five games. The Golden Knights have a 1-3-1 record and have scored only 11 goals, two of which were empty-net goals in a 4-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators. Just six of those 11 goals have come at 5-on-5.

“I wouldn’t say we’re concerned,” said Golden Knights head coach Ryan Craig after the 5-2 loss. “We’re creating opportunities. We haven’t finished as well, and we haven’t played with the lead as much as we did earlier. Those things, I think, force you to squeeze your stick a little bit. We shouldn’t be concerned about that part of our game, because when we do manage the puck, and we do check, we create opportunities that, if we create enough of them, they’re gonna go in.

“We were up 2-1 at the 18-minute mark of the first period,” Craig finished. “Our guys responded to the first [Devils goal] to get two. We’re in a position there. We just have to stay with it.”

The Golden Knights aren’t too worried about their finishing struggles because they have a much bigger issue at hand. Over the past five games, their losses have been in no small part due to poor puck management.

“There are other parts of our game that we have to work on,” said Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore after today’s 5-2 loss. “It starts defensively. You can’t give up five and expect to win.”

Ten days ago, they kicked off this bad stretch with a 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay where four Lightning goals came directly off of turnovers. Everyone on this team is aware of the issue, and they’ve repeatedly mentioned that they need to manage the puck better. But for some reason, the problem persists.

“We didn’t help ourselves. It starts with our puck play and turnovers,” said head coach Ryan Craig. “The first two [Devils goals] are turnovers… We’ve just got to be better.”

“We just weren’t good enough,” agreed Theodore. “Our execution wasn’t there, our physicality wasn’t there. We weren’t really getting on the forecheck, and we had too many turnovers. Overall, we have to be better.”