Vegas Golden Knights need to get back to basics ahead of weekend

Not everything is rosy in the Vegas Golden Knights garden right now but they need to get it together ahead of what is shaping up to be a huge weekend.

Granted, it seems somewhat silly to place any kind of importance on a set of games in the middle of November but, given the Vegas Golden Knights’ recent struggles, they need to break out of their slump sooner rather than later.

And this weekend is significant because the Knights have a back-to-back against two Pacific Division rivals in the LA Kings and the Calgary Flames.

Vegas are in LA on Saturday before returning home on Sunday to matchup against the Flames at T-Mobile Arena, which will start a four-game homestand for the Golden Knights.

Both games are huge for the Knights given that they are currently two points behind the Flames in the standings, while the Kings are propping up the Pacific Division and are the worst team in the NHL.

Plus, with the Edmonton Oilers just five points ahead of the Golden Knights at the top of the Pacific (prior to their game against the Colorado Avalanche tonight), Vegas have a real opportunity this weekend to start making some ground by claiming two big divisional wins.

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And that is the main benefit of the Pacific Division being surprisingly ultra competitive this season, because even after enduring a nightmare start to the month of November, the Knights are still right in the thick of things.

Of course, we are only a month and a bit into the season so it is important to not get carried away either way, but there is no denying that the Knights’ recent slump has been alarming, even for the most optimistic of fans.

They don’t look like the vintage Golden Knights we have been treated to during the past two-and-a-bit years, while they certainly don’t have any resemblance to the team that showed they could absolutely dominate teams in October.

We knew this roster had flaws but those blemishes are rearing their ugly head all at once, and it has been a perfect storm when it comes to everything going wrong at the same time for the Golden Knights.

Marc-Andre Fleury has been playing at an elite level but Malcolm Subban blows hot and cold as a backup, while the defense has been this team’s biggest Achilles heel so far this season.

They lack an absolute horse on the blueline and both Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt have yet to reach the peak of their powers following early season injuries, while Theodore missed a lot of the preseason after a scary battle with cancer in the summer.

The biggest strength of the Knights is no doubt their offense but even that has been anemic in November, with the team leader in points Mark Stone now riding a five-game streak without a single point.

Paul Stastny has also gone seven games without tallying a goal or an assist, but you expect even your big hitters to go through slumps at various points during the course of an 82-game regular season.

That is when you expect your secondary scoring to click into gear but, as has been painfully evident, the Golden Knights are getting very little from their bottom six.

Cody Eakin has been the epitome of the Knights’ struggles to generate secondary scoring, and we discussed the forward’s future with this franchise here.

Offensive slumps, combined with the defense’s penchant for giving up a plethora of turnovers and odd-man rushes on a game-to-game basis, has really hindered this team in November so far.

However, arguably the biggest blemish on the Knights’ copybook this month has been their inability to play a full 60 minutes and close out a game.

The Golden Knights have blown a lead five times in the last seven games, and that has now become an alarming trend.

It comes down to mentality more than anything else and if you can’t execute the game plan for a full 60-minute game, then you are going to have problems and you won’t be a contender.

All that being said, you can’t afford to dwell on the past in the NHL and the Vegas Golden Knights have to move on, press the reset button and focus on winning two very, very big hockey games this weekend.

Championships aren’t won in November, but they can be lost and the Golden Knights need to go back to the drawing board ahead of this weekend.

They have to go back to the fast, in your face style of hockey that has become the hallmark of this franchise, and they need to get back to playing with a real chip on their shoulder and battling for each other for the full 60 minutes.

If they can do that then the Vegas Golden Knights should be able to do some damage control by picking up two huge wins this weekend against the LA Kings and the Calgary Flames.