The Vegas Golden Knights have been held to under 10 shots in six of the 10 periods they've played.
The Vegas Golden Knights have been held to under 10 shots in six of the 10 periods they've played.
In Game 1 of the series the Golden Knights could only muster 15 shots on goal but were still able to put four goals past Jake Oettinger. In Game 2 they threw 26 pucks at the net of the Dallas Stars, the most in a period being 10. In Game 3 the Golden Knights played two periods with less than 10 shots and two where the most they generated was once again 10.
Offence is harder to come by in the playoffs, but the most shots the Golden Knights can generate in a period being 10 is troublesome. Besides the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators, who are playing against each other, no team has generated fewer shots on goal.
HC Bruce Cassidy has mentioned it before saying the Golden Knights aren't a high-volume shooting team. They value quality shots over quantity. The issue they have at the moment is that they aren't generating enough of those chances.
After three games, the Golden Knights have generated just 19 high-danger chances according to NaturalStatTrick. Tied for the second least in the playoffs. The Stars have generated the most with 45. The Golden Knights have generated just 29.69% of the high-danger chances.
The Stars have also generated 64.56% of the scoring chances and 69.24% of the expected goals.
If it weren't for some brilliant goaltending for Logan Thompson the series could look very different. The 27-year-old has a .917SV% and a 2.14GAA. He's made many spectacular saves and was the reason why the score was so close after the first period and a half.
It's easy to be critical after they lost because many people sang the praises of the team for how well they defended the Stars but signs of the Stars breaking through and winning were there. They blocked 20 shots in Game 1, 15 in Game 2 and 32 in Game 3. The effort and will to win isn't lacking from the Golden Knights but dealing with the Stars' offensive pressure and generating their own offence has been the issue.
The Golden Knights have shown that this formula can work as it did in Games 1 and 2 but many things have to go your way when offence is scarce.
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