Vegas Golden Knights Need More Production From David Perron
The Vegas Golden Knights need the veteran forward to break out of his funk and fast.
We have an even series going to DC. And I can honestly say, I expected that going into this Stanley Cup Final. However, the Washington Capitals have grabbed home ice from the Vegas Golden Knights. That means Vegas needs to win at least one game on the road if they want to achieve their end goal.
If anyone knows how to respond after a loss, it’s the Golden Knights. However, they’re going to need all 18 skaters and two goalies on board to walk into a crazy environment at Capital One Arena and come out with a win. Although, I want to focus on one player in particular, and that’s David Perron.
The Sherbrooke, Quebec native had an outstanding regular season with the Golden Knights. In 70 regular season games, he scored 16 goals, racked up 50 assists and 66 points. Despite those great numbers in the regular season, he has been below subpar in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 30-year old has eight assists in 13 playoff games. And that’s not a horrible stat line, but he has not tallied a single goal for quite some time. In fact, the last time Perron scored a goal, was March 4th against the New Jersey Devils.
Going three months without a goal is no bueno. It also seems like the fans are picking on Peron for his long scoring drought. But Golden Knights Head Coach Gerard Gallant is giving him every opportunity to rekindle his offense.
Gallant has tinkered with the lineup in hopes of waking up the second line. In game two, he dropped Alex Tuch to the third line and brought Perron back to his old spot during the regular season. An interesting lineup change considering Vegas defeated Washington in game one.
The veteran forward is back with his old linemates in Erik Haula and James Neal, for now. In game two, Perron was nearly invisible as he only accumulated one shot attempt the entire game. It came late in the third period and it looked like a pretty good scoring chance as Perron came down the wing, but he airmailed the shot 20 feet wide of the net.
Don’t be surprised if Gallant makes a switch to his lineup later on in the series if things go sideways. Tomas Tatar and Oscar Lindberg are always waiting in the wings, just in case. But if the Golden Knights want this series to go the way they want it, they’re going to need some production in other areas besides the first line.
The fourth line of Tomas Nosek, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Ryan Reaves have done a fantastic job so far. But it’s the middle lines that need to make a statement in this series. If they don’t, it could be curtains on a historic season.
It all starts and ends with Perron; he needs to become more of an offensive threat. One shot attempt is not going to get the job done. When all else fails, the one way to create offense is to get in front of the net.
As simple as it sounds, that’s all that he may need to do if he wants to break out of his skid. Generating traffic through a goaltender’s eyes can be distracting for the netminders. A shot from the point and the puck deflects off of Perron’s leg and in the back of the net. A manageable play call such as that could be the one that turns the tide for Perron mentally to get back on track.
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All in all, if David Perron starts showing consistency for the Vegas Golden Knights, it would make life easier for the expansion franchise. Will he score his first of the postseason tonight in game three? The quest for the Cup continues on NBCSN at 5 PM PT.