If you've seen the news lately, you've heard of a potential TikTok ban. Congress has worked on banning the social media platform unless Zhang Yiming, the original owner, sells it. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ban under those same stipulations, leaving Gen Z to freak out like the McRib was gone.
Perhaps they have a valid point about banning the platform. After all, there isn't enough Vegas Golden Knights content, centered around Bruce Cassidy and his dance along with William Karlsson eating boiled eggs with spaghetti. Instead, you have stuff like this that makes your brain melt away.
Golden Knights fans might find this entertaining for a second before they realize their brains are melting out of their ears. However, they're looking for something else to ban from their organization. This particular element has plagued the team in the past five games, leaving them searching for answers.
The Vegas Golden Knights should ban the bad play of the penalty kill
The past five games have seen the Vegas Golden Knights not kill enough penalties. They've watched the San Jose Sharks score two power play goals on them on January 7. When you have a basement dweller in the Sharks score on you when you're killing penalties, that's a major problem.
In fact, the team has killed four penalties in their last seven opportunities, leaving plenty of room for improvement. Overall, the unit's 21st in the NHL with a success rate of 78% this season. There's plenty of room to grow, although they're not catching the Dallas Stars any time soon (85.6%, best in the NHL).
So what's the solution for Bruce Cassidy and company? Is it deploying William Karlsson on the first unit and shaking things up? Shaking the lineup more has been Cassidy's go-to strategy over the years. That's happened whenever a particular line hasn't done well. The hope? Get the group nice and productive on offense again.
That could certainly help the unit become more efficient. Things can get old quickly, leaving fans and players to seek something else. It also leaves you open to your opponents figuring out a better strategy to tackle you. Look at what happened with the power play and Tomas Hertl. Now, opponents have learned how to keep him from the net, making life harder for the Golden Knights.
It starts with going back to basics
Sometimes, you must ban the old style like TikTok and get back to basics. That means learning how to successfully exit and efficient forechecking. When you're in a pinch, you forget how to do basic tasks, leaving you open for making mistakes.
The same can be said for playing better on even strength, which hasn't shined in the past few games. Smoother passing, better shot selection, and stronger puck control can do wonders for a team. That's especially true when you've lost three of your past four games.
The Golden Knights must quickly solve their penalty kill problem and ban old habits like TikTok. It's become a problem area for the team, which is accustomed to seeing the power play flounder instead. It could be the difference between being eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs and winning it all.