It seems like Pavel Dorofeyev has carried the Vegas Golden Knights as of late. The 24-year-old has been hotter than Sydney Sweeney, scoring six goals and three assists in his last five contests. It seems the Russian forward has carried the offense through its tough slump. However, there's a fun-loving center who's also carried his fair share. Enter Tomas Hertl.
The Czech center has five goals and five assists in his last six contests. He's gotten two goals and three assists on the power play, re-establishing himself into the unit. In fact, he's scored those two goals in the last two games, hoisting up the fifth-best power play in the NHL (27%). Fun must be always, indeed.
Overall, Hertl has been everything the Golden Knights wanted this season. He has 16 goals and 20 assists, with nine goals and seven assists coming on the power play. By the way, the Golden Knights have the fourth-best attack in the NHL with 3.38 goals per game. Part of that came from the fun-loving forward acting as a big body in front of the net.
Hertl's re-emergence could be the antidote needed to get his team out of their current slump. Losers of six of their last seven games, Vegas could use anything to get them ahead, especially with everything blowing past them. Giveaways, high-danger shots, you name it. Perhaps the team can go swimming and play water polo with Hertl and his older friends to snap out of their funk.
Today after exersice...i have a lot of new young friends:-D..fun must be alwalys:-)) pic.twitter.com/oM005RF2Py
— Tomáš Hertl (@TomasHertl48) January 31, 2014
The second line has been the most productive unit for the Golden Knights
If you look at the team's current second line of Victor Olofsson, Tomas Hertl, and Pavel Dorofeyev, you'll see they've been the most productive line. The past couple of weeks have seen the trio carry the offense, getting the Golden Knights competitive in most games. Let's look at the line in the past five games and see how they've measured up.
Name | Goals | Assists | Power play goals | Power play assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor Olofsson | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Pavel Dorofeyev | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Tomas Hertl | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
The unit has combined for 12 goals and 10 assists in the last five games, making them one of Bruce Cassidy's most reliable units. Add in five goals and four assists on the power play and this group could help break the team out of their current funk. All it takes is better defensive play and for Adin Hill to shore up his glove side.
But there's more to the native of Prague than being a power play merchant. His Corsi (58%) and Fenwick (61%) show he's a responsible hockey player with the puck, according to MoneyPuck. Hertl's on-ice goals percentage (59%) and on-ice expected goals percentage (64.1%) validate this, proving he was an excellent pick-up in last season's trade deadline. Throw in his high-danger expected goals (11.67) and there's a reason why Kelly McCrimmon acquired him from the Sharks last March.
Could Hertl get the Golden Knights out of their current funk?
Part of why the Vegas Golden Knights have been in their current funk is because they've become passive allowing goals. In all periods (excluding a shootout) in the last seven games, the Golden Knights have allowed 24 goals, being outscored by 17 goals.
Besides, one player can't single-handedly get a player out of a slump. It's a collective team effort that requires everyone to be on the same page. Therefore, players like Ilya Samsonov (nine goals allowed in his last two games) must be better. That also means blocking more shots and pressing on the forecheck.
Luckily, there's still plenty of games left in the regular season. There's also an emotional side of things, where players like Tomas Hertl can lead the way. After all, the intangibles matter. That's what makes hockey fun. Remember, "fun must be always."