There was a tweet on X from the SinBin after last Saturday's 3-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres that has lingered in my brain for almost a week since I first saw it. It has to do with something hiding in the background of the dominance from the past month and a half: The power play.
3 takeaways from the game, presented by @dotvegasinc
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 5, 2025
1) Eichel and Stone on the same line is sick.
2) The Sabres stink.
3) Hasn’t cost them really at all, but there has to be a bit of a growing concern about the power play. Just about every aspect of it is heading in the wrong… pic.twitter.com/e6dCtBz08Q
On one side, it was hard not to watch that game and see precisely what that tweet was talking about. That's especially during that second power play late in the third. Of the 23 power play goals the Golden Knights have scored this season, 18 of those come from three players (Victor Olofsson, Tomas Hertl, Pavel Dorofeyev) with the other six spread out to four players (Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Ivan Barbashev, Noah Hanifin). It's not a good look going into the second half of the season, though not necessarily unique in recent history.
For example, of Vegas' 51 power play goals last season, half of them (26) were concentrated on three players; the other 25 were sprinkled among 12 players. The season before that (2022-23), 21 of Vegas' 42 power play goals were concentrated on three players; the other 21 goals were spread among 11 players. And the season before that (2021-22), 20 of Vegas' 39 power play goals came from four players; the other 19 were spread among nine players.
On the other hand though, as we saw with the Victor Olofsson goal Tuesday night in San Jose, it's easy to steer a sluggish power play back to a functioning level. The key to how this ends in the spring and summer times lies in the two men credited with the assist on that goal: Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore. When they're humming along, the power play's gonna be humming along. When they're not, more tweets like this will pop up.
Other Bits from the Realm:
- Something that flew underneath the radar a little from last night's 4-0 loss to the Isles. Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy were upgraded to full contact in practice before Thursday's game. Lovely timing with the Rangers and the (also dangerous in the postseason) Minnesota Wild this weekend [knock on wood].
- If you need another example of that kind of fluctuation in action, before allowing a power play goal in three straight games, the Golden Knights killed off 13 of 15 penalties in the previous four games. Wouldn't it be awesome if the penalty kill got any semblance of consistency through the second half, enough to get close to cracking the top 15? Yes. Yes, it would. It's as likely as me getting Nightcrawler's mutant powers over the weekend. But still... a pretty nice dream to have!
- Gary Lawless' interview on Jeff Marek's brilliant podcast The Sheet was every bit as fascinating, and worth spending 20 minutes or so on, especially after last night. One point on the team the Golden Knights are most worried to face come playoff time: it's both basic and true that the answer's Edmonton. I'd like to add another team to that designation, the Los Angeles Kings.
Not that they're better than the Oilers are. But the mixture of youth peaking at the right time alongside veterans like Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, and Philip Danault with experience making deep Stanley Cup runs. That's a recipe for damage in a five or seven-game series. That's especially true if Darcy Kuemper's playing like 2021-22 Darcy Kuemper. Of course, they'd have to get past Edmonton, which is its own tough boss-level drama. Still...something to keep an eyeball on.
- Finally, for those who can, a link of mutual aid funds to help out the people of Los Angeles dealing with the fires that have been choking the city in smoke and ash all week. If not, as you read about the stars whose homes are burned down, spare some thoughts to the regular folks with their homes burned down sans the resources to rebuild them.