Vegas Golden Knights fans left Wednesday's game with even more bad news. Of course, the Golden Knights lost on a controversial call in the shootout. However, they were devastated by the news regarding Jack Eichel.
You see, Eichel's been battling an illness of sorts. In fact, he's not the only superstar that's been bitten by the bug. Nikita Kucherov missed Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Kings due to an illness. Man, it seems like nobody can escape the wrath of the flu or the common cold, eh? Those things hit like wrecking balls during the winter.
Anyways, that has raised the distinct possibility of Eichel missing the Alberta trip. Yes, you read that right. The Golden Knights' superstar might not make it out for the two games if he's sick like a dog.
Now, that has thrown all sorts of monkey wrenches into the Golden Knights' plans.
"What in the world are we going to do without Eichel? We need him to pretend like he works great from home!"
Have no fear, dear reader. These two things are key to the Golden Knights dominating the brief two-game trip. Count on Vegas to continue coming up roses if they stick to these two things over the weekend.
The Vegas Golden Knights must make better entries
Despite firing 37 shots on Jake Allen on Wednesday, the Vegas Golden Knights struggled to enter the offensive zone. They couldn't get any headway into the offensive zone, missing "golden" opportunities to generate offense. Part of that has been because of the absence of Eichel, especially since he excels at this.
But he's not the only one who does great in this department. Shea Theodore also thrives in this area as a puck-moving defenseman. He also has the offensive intelligence to sniff out opposing defenders, finding open spots for solid scoring chances.
However, he's also dealing with health problems in the form of an upper-body injury. If he doesn't show up? The attention turns to Noah Hanifin, who has similar offensive capabilities (on a lighter scale, of course). If he can get going and take care of the puck, Vegas will have no problems coming out of Alberta.
The Golden Knights must draw penalties... a lot of them
When you have the seventh-best power play in the NHL (24.8%), you want to maximize that unit as much as possible. Here, you have proven weapons such as Pavel Dorofeyev (nine power play goals) and Tomas Hertl (six power play goals), who are effective weapons on the unit.
Surprisingly, Calgary has the better power play of the two Alberta teams (83.5%, fifth in the NHL). Meanwhile, Edmonton stands at 19th in the NHL (79.4%), leaving a juicy chance for Dorofeyev and company to strike. Combined with the Oilers' relative inability to stop the puck (tied for 27th in the NHL with 3.41 goals allowed per game), it makes everything even more interesting.
That's where Cole Reinhardt comes into play. He's incredibly effective at drawing penalties, forcing his opponents to make the wrong move. You can also look at players like Brett Howden for this situation (or nearly any other Golden Knights player), making it the perfect opportunity for Vegas's special teams to strike.