Last night was a rare glimmer of good news for the Golden Knights, who finally stopped their four-game losing streak in a 4-2 win over St. Louis. Whether it ends up being the death knell for the team's funk that's taken up a lot of the oxygen this month will depend on what happens in Dallas later on Friday. But it's worth looking at these last few weeks to see what's still to fix going forward.
Total defensive struggles
It's never great for a hockey team when one goalie's riding a bad streak. When it's both goalies? Adin Hill's statline since January 9: 1-2-1, 2.75 GAA, .885 save percentage. Ilya Samsonov's statline since Jan. 9: 1-3-0, 3.25 GAA, .852 save percentage. Now, much of these stat lines tie back to the bad defense that's populated so much of the past few weeks, outside of last night. The Justin Barron goal in the second period in Nashville was a perfect example of this. Over the past couple of weeks, one defenseman for the Golden Knights has a positive plus/minus (Shea Theodore with a +3).
Widening out to the team doesn't paint a great picture either. Since January 9, Vegas has allowed 26 goals. They're tied for 22nd in goals against per game (3.43), and- thanks to the Blues- tied for 16th on the penalty kill (75%). Slightly better than it was 24 hours ago. But with Dallas twice (Friday and Tuesday night), the defending champion Florida Panthers (Sunday night), and the deceptively pesky Columbus Blue Jackets on January 30, all that progress could be gone in a snap. There are reasons for hope here, given how strong the penalty kill and defense were Thursday night.
Faceoff woes and chasing sanity
I know that sounds a bit like bad-beat poetry, but it applies to what this team's been through the past couple of weeks. They're 29th in the league in faceoff win percentage since January 9 (46.3%). The last time Vegas won the faceoff duel in a game was against the Rangers on January 11, with the past couple of games being the closest to 50% the Golden Knights have gotten since that game. Often, those faceoff losses would turn into opposition goals at the worst possible time in the game.
Take a look at the Chicago game as a tiny example. Alex Pietrangelo gets sent to the box for tripping with 3:46 left. Ryan Donato wins the face-off against Nicolas Roy and, nine seconds later, Tyler Bertuzzi sweeps up a rebound to grab the lead. Fast forward to 30 seconds left in the period and Donato wins the face-off again against Roy. Pietrangelo blocks the shot, Hall nails the rebound and Vegas is chasing the rest of the game.
You can look at the play-by-play of each game in this funk and find that the same pattern pops up against this team. The exceptions were the two bright spots in this (hopefully ending soon) funk: Thursday in St. Louis and the 4-1 win on January 12 against Minnesota. The Eichel goal late in the third that sparked the near comeback Monday against St. Louis also would've landed on the list...if the puck hadn't moved from Dorofeyev's stick in a 90-degree angle and rested comfortably on Jordan Binnington's leg pad in the shootout.
Bottom line: Vegas is perilously close to getting things back on track for the first time in weeks. More wins in the faceoff circle will help speed up the proverbial timeline. It might not be the worrying lower body injury afflicting William Karlsson, or Ivan Barbashev's seven-game goalless drought. But it's certainly enough to lower the temperature more after the success of Thursday night. Till next week...