We are just one game away from the long two-week break for the 4 Nations Faceoff, and the sea of boos that'll very likely come in Montreal before every USA game. Personally, like all international hockey, I'll just be watching for the on-ice action and rooting for no major injuries from the Golden Knights playing in it (looking at you, Adin Hill...). Also, adding some scoring confidence to splash onto Shea Theodore helped, though we saw (fingers crossed) a little sample of that in his second-period goal last night.
In the course of this road trip leading up to tomorrow's matinee in Boston, Vegas has scored a grand total of six goals, half of them coming in last night's 3-1 win in New Jersey. For the past month, their goal differential is -6, which is 23rd in the league in that time. This isn't particularly new information to anyone reading this, I imagine. It's one of a list of problems that need to be addressed heading into the season's last eight weeks, chief among them...
"How do you fix a problem like the offense...?"
[pause for the small golf claps for the Sound of Music reference] Over the last month, the offensive production issues with this team have been most prominent, especially in the third period. They've scored 12 goals in the third period, seven of those in the four Vegas wins. Yes, many games came into the third period on holes caused by defensive and goaltending issues (the Nashville, Chicago, and Carolina games come screaming to mind). But there were also multiple times where a better third period on the offensive end would've turned into a win. Hopefully, they get at least a charity point.
We've seen it in the first half of this road trip with the Rangers and the Islanders where they outshot both teams in the final frame and lost. Then there's the OT loss against Dallas back in the last homestand where we lost a lead in the third, mustering only two shots on Jake Oettinger before Wyatt Johnston's tying goal.
There are still sizable questions in the short and medium term surrounding William Karlsson's health, not to mention the fact Ivan Barbashev is currently on a 15-game goalless drought. But we saw how stress-free and smooth the third period last night in New Jersey was. Even after the Ondrej Palat goal made it 3-1, there wasn't a sense of impending dread that was there with either New York loss or even the loss against Columbus last Thursday. If they can put that type of smooth confidence together in Boston and beyond, the answer to the above question might reveal itself naturally.
Other Bits from the Realm:
- Of course, that isn't to say Kelly McCrimmon won't take a swing at another winger between now and the trade deadline. With Tanner Pearson heading to the IR, paired with the Karlsson injury...one would think the chances there just grew a little after last night. Though all that is predicated on if the letters "LTIR" attach to Mr. Karlsson's name in the coming weeks. Something to keep your peepers on either way...
- Finally, an update on last week’s HoltzWatch in the AHL: it’s done ‘cause…Alexander Holtz is back with the big club. He was called up before last night's game at Prudential Center without playing a game in Henderson, making it the second take to die a mayfly’s death.
But getting back to what passes for seriousness here at the Knightcap, it’s not a big shock to see Holtz back in the lineup. It is a shock to find him on the second line next to two of the hottest players on the team (Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev).
Now, it’s probably just the opaque magics of the Line Blender at work. But with the trade deadline a month away…seems like something to bookmark for a metaphorical rainy day.