The Golden Knights’s Next Road Trip Is Down South

For Bruce Cassidy’s team, it’s simple: keep pressing on the forecheck and generate numerous scoring opportunities. It’s been the Golden Knights’s strength and they’ve played to it extremely well. It’s also led to them being atop the NHL.

This is especially true with the top line, where Mark Stone and Jack Eichel have been on fire recently. Eichel is currently on a 10-game point streak, scoring 16 points (six goals, 10 assists). Vegas’s captain has been equally impressive, scoring 12 points throughout December (four goals and eight assists).

But the offense hasn’t been their only focal point. Mark Stone is tied for the NHL lead in takeaways this season with 37. Who’s he tied with? Leon Draisaitl and Jack Eichel. Overall, Vegas is second as a team with 274. If the Knights want to have a successful trip down south, they must continue to establish the forecheck with positives like this. That starts with Eichel and Stone, where they’ll lead the charge.

There is something else the Vegas Golden Knights must watch for during their trip down south. Goaltending will be a major focal point, specifically with Adin Hill exiting Sunday’s game with an apparent injury. Logan Thompson also had some issues in that game, though he stuck it out until the end.

Vegas called up Jiri Patera as a precaution, mainly for Hill’s injury. Fortunately, the consensus around Thompson is that he’ll be fine. Still, the Golden Knights must continue to stick to their game plan to give the netminders a breather. Blocking shots and creating turnovers will do this.

As for Patera, he’s got the potential to be a solid goalie in the NHL. He might be a project, but he also learns the game well. In 31 games with the Henderson Silver Knights last season, he had a GAA of 2.86 and a save percentage of .911. The upcoming trip south is an opportunity for Patera to learn even more.

The Golden Knights have been through this before. Last season, it was an array of injuries that tested their depth on their journey to the Stanley Cup. You can bet this will be no different, with Vegas’s game plan going into full swing during the road trip to remedy this.

Down south, you’re going to come across some superstars. Obviously, there are the Matthew Tkachuk’s and Nikita Kucherov’s of the world. However, don’t sleep on Andrei Vasilevskiy if Vegas faces him. The former Vezina winner might be shaking off the rust from his time on LTIR (he’s allowed three or more goals in his past four games). However, he’s still fairly young (29 years) and already has a shutout to his name this season.

As for Vegas’s Stanley Cup Final foe from last season, you’d be surprised to learn their leading scorer is *drum roll, please*… Sam Reinhart. The center has 38 points (17 goals, 21 assists) entering Monday night, which is a pleasant surprise for the Florida Panthers.

Finally, watch out for Seth Jarvis. On top of being the third-best offensive weapon for the Carolina Hurricanes this season (22 points), he’s also the team leader in power play goals with five. He’s a consistent force that can cause problems for opponents, leaving them down south.

(Stats courtesy of hockeyreference.com and StatMuse)