When I traveled to Detroit to see the Vegas Golden Knights play the Red Wings last Sunday, I was expecting a close contest. There's no way Vegas would squander a game after losing to Buffalo, right?
Upon first glance, it appeared that was the case. The first two periods offered a tight contest with Detroit up, 1-0. Things were getting chippy between both sides where even Ilya Samsonov took a swing. Geez, man. What do you have to do to irritate someone like Samsonov that much?
However, the floodgates opened in the third period, courtesy of Lucas Raymond. Then came another Marco Kasper scaring Samsonov into the afterlife and sealing the deal. The trip ended with a whimper. Detroit got a glimmer of hope in their fading playoff dreams with two points. As for Vegas? Well, they were getting concerned about Los Angeles and Edmonton behind them. Not even Brandon Saad scored and he seems to do that regularly.
Luckily, Saturday offers a rematch between both teams. Can the new kids on the block take down the Original Six team inside the Fortress? Or will fans see Detroit get a clean sweep on the year? Las Vegas hopes it's the former, especially after an underachieving road trip.
That means some things must change. Let's re-examine that fateful day on March 16 and look at what went wrong. In fact, let's look at three things Vegas must do differently on Saturday. That way, you can send the fans at T-Mobile Arena home happy.
1.) The Golden Knights must continue dominating controlled entries
On Sunday, it seemed like the Golden Knights couldn't get anything going offensively. They struggled to maintain puck possession and let the Red Wings beat them off the rush. Something had to change on Thursday.
Luckily, Vegas did much better with their controlled entries and wearing down the Boston Bruins. They had more entries after the first period, 21-13, after all. This also coincided with getting more scoring opportunities, as proven by Vegas outshooting Boston, 32-19. Compare that to Sunday, where Detroit outshot Vegas, 27-18.
If they can replicate that strategy against Detroit, they'll have a much easier time than Sunday's disaster. That means consuming as much offensive zone time as possible and taking care of the puck. Speaking of which.
2.) No more giveaways!
Sunday's game also saw an unhealthy amount of giveaways for the Golden Knights. They "won" the giveaway battle, 23-15, which led to odd-man rushes for the Red Wings. It's been mentioned numerous times here that this is something that must be fixed. However, Sunday didn't offer any hope of change.
Overall, this has been a pain point for Bruce Cassidy throughout the season. He's watched his team commit the eighth-most turnovers (1,075). The culprits? Alex Pietrangelo (103, eighth-most) and Noah Hanifin (95, 16th-most). The two defensemen must be better with handling the puck. Otherwise, Hockeytown's celebrating a parade of goals on Saturday.
3.) Win the special teams battle
One major problem with Vegas on Sunday was composure. They had six total penalty minutes and had to kill off two penalties. Also keep in mind that the Red Wings have the third-best power play in the NHL (28.3%). Who's No. 1 and No. 2? Why, that'd be Winnipeg at 30% and... the Vegas Golden Knights at 28.9%.
This looks like a job for Brandon Saad (three power play assists) and crew to draw penalties. The Red Wings also have the worst penalty kill in the NHL (69.9%), leaving a "nice" opportunity for Vegas. That means not losing your cool and keeping a level head throughout the game.
Pick: VGK 3-1
Time to rock, Vegas. If Hill gets the nod, it's good feelings in Sin City.