Vegas Golden Knights: Three main keys to taming the Sharks
We are finally here with the Vegas Golden Knights set to open up the 2019-20 NHL regular season against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena tonight (7:30 p.m. PT).
Hockey is back and we can now look forward to seven months filled to the brim with Vegas Golden Knights hockey, and we are all in for that.
But it is down to serious business for the Golden Knights tonight who will want to start the year as they mean to go on with winning the Stanley Cup the ultimate goal heading into 2019-20.
And Vegas are rightly considered one of the more elite teams in the NHL due to the abundance of riches they have at their disposal, and they have everything in place to embark on a deep postseason run this year.
However, their path to the cup won’t be easy and they face a tough start to the regular season, which begins against bitter rivals the Sharks who are also in the middle of their championship contending window.
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We covered injury news for both teams earlier but, since then, the Golden Knights have announced that veteran forward Cody Eakin has been placed on the IR with an upper-body injury, allowing both defenseman Nic Hague and bottom nine forward Nicolas Roy to be called up from the Chicago Wolves in the AHL.
Forward Alex Tuch was also placed on LTIR meaning that he will miss the first 10 games of the year, with the road trip to the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct, 22 a likely return date.
Moving back on to tonight’s game, though, there will be a plethora of interesting storylines to keep an eye on and we’ve dived into the three keys the Vegas Golden Knights will need to take into account if they are to get 2019-20 off to a winning start…
Let the past die
“Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you were meant to be.” That is of course a Kylo Ren quote from the Star Wars movies but it is relevant to the Golden Knights heading into tonight’s game.
After suffering a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Sharks in the First Round of the playoffs last year in extremely controversial fashion, the Golden Knights are determined to wipe the slate clean in 2019-20 and move on completely.
They will have to if they want to taste championship success this year and tonight will all be about looking forward, rather than backwards, come the first drop of the puck.
Calm heads will prevail
Linking in to the above point, it is crazy how ferocious this rivalry between the Knights and the Sharks has become in such a short space of time, but fiery it is and that was on full display on Sunday when the two franchises combined for a staggering total of 114 penalty minutes in a preseason game.
The third period in particular exploded into chaos and San Jose forward Evander Kane was handed a three-game suspension for “Abuse of the Officials.”
There is no doubt that there is plenty of bad blood swirling between these two teams, especially after the events of the playoffs last year, but having players take dumb penalties and get distracted won’t do the Knights any good and instead it will probably end up losing them the game.
Instead, the task for the Vegas coaching staff and the leaders on this team will be to ensure that every single player is prepared to battle, while keeping their emotions in check and focussing on the task at hand which is to secure the first W of the season.
Special Teams
We all know Special Teams are crucial in hockey, especially when you are playing in a gritty and tight game which is how we expect tonight to go.
As a result, the Golden Knights will need to take advantage of their power play and their penalty kill by punishing the Sharks when given the opportunity to do so.
If Sunday is any evidence then both teams will get plenty of time on the man advantage tonight, and a new-look power play unit will need to produce the goods for Vegas or risk being hit with a sucker punch by the Sharks.
The Golden Knights’ power play was below average at best last year having ranked 25th in the NHL (16.8 percent), and that will need to drastically improve if they are to succeed in 2019-20.
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And what better way to start making amends for previous wrongs than by showing a new year really means a new and improved power play unit.
If the Knights can strike on any opportunity on the power play while killing any penalties they may give up, then that will go a long way towards helping them to win the season opener.