The Golden Knights were eliminated from the playoffs because they couldn’t find the back of the net.

The Knights were shut out the final two games of their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, bowing out with a 1-0 overtime loss in Game 5 on May 14.

Several of their previous playoff defeats happened because they didn’t score enough. This time, they didn’t score at all.

That means a slight philosophical change could be coming.

“We’re a team that’s not a shoot-first team,” coach Bruce Cassidy said Game 5. “That’s something we’ll look at.”

The same issue cost the Knights last postseason in their first-round loss to the Dallas Stars. They pushed the top seed in the Western Conference to a Game 7 before losing 2-1 at American Airlines Center.

The Knights, despite losing several key pieces from last year’s team, didn’t have an issue scoring when they returned for the regular season. They averaged 3.34 goals per game, the fifth-most in the NHL.

But the Knights went cold at the wrong time. They scored 2.55 goals per game in the playoffs. Their top five goal scorers in the regular season — right wing Pavel Dorofeyev (35), center Tomas Hertl (32), center Jack Eichel (28), left wing Ivan Barbashev (23) and left wing Brett Howden (23) — combined for zero goals against Edmonton.

Cassidy, when asked to elaborate Friday on what a shoot-first mentality looks like, said it starts with building a game plan where “everyone knows the puck’s going to the net.”

“You’ve got to build that in,” Cassidy said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, especially if you have guys that like to hang onto pucks and make plays.”

“We have to start looking at that as an avenue to create offense when things aren’t going well,” he continued. “How you sell it is, we didn’t score the last two games in the playoffs and you’re trying to build that into November, December. That’s a bit of the messaging. When the going gets tough, this is a way to generate.”

Changing the approach

Cassidy doesn’t plan on overhauling his approach. His teams don’t normally resort to throwing pucks at the net from all angles.

But he wants to change the Knights mindset a little. His skaters can hold onto pucks looking for the perfect pass instead of firing at the opposing goaltender at times.

Cassidy pointed to Edmonton’s winning goal in Game 5 as an example of what he’s looking for. Right wing Kasperi Kapanen crashed the net, pounced on a loose puck and ended the series.

“We had some opportunities to do that,” Cassidy said. “Our mindset is, we’re going to have people arriving at the net when the puck needs to. That, mixed with driving pucks deep, turning up late or making an east-west play.

“And all the analytics show if you make east-west plays, the goalie has a tougher time stopping it. So, where’s your balance? I think that we have to seriously look at that.”

What changed?

General manager Kelly McCrimmon said he wouldn’t overreact to the fact the Knights went 127 minutes without a goal before being eliminated.

“I don’t think it was a chronic issue that you would’ve expected would lead to our demise,” McCrimmon said.

Offense does dry up in the playoffs. Teams averaged 3.01 goals per game in the regular season. That’s down to 2.79 in the playoffs so far.

Still, the Knights didn’t have the same issue when they won the Stanley Cup two years ago. They scored four goals per game during that postseason run, which included a six-game win over the Oilers in the second round.

But McCrimmon said offense wasn’t the only issue for the Knights against Edmonton this year. The team had a poor all-around performance in a 3-0 loss in Game 4 at Rogers Place, which cost it a chance to tie the series.

“There were bigger concerns for me in Game 4 that led to the fact that we didn’t score,” McCrimmon said. “I don’t think that was a good game for us in the series. Game 5, I thought we played really well. I think when you look at it on a specific night, if you didn’t win, you didn’t score enough. I feel the team was good enough to win.”

Jack of all trades

One player the Knights could ask to shoot more is Eichel.

The 28-year-old had a career season with 66 assists and 94 points and is an elite distributor. But he may have deferred too much in the playoffs. He finished with one goal in 11 games, though he did add nine assists.

Eichel is aware he could be more aggressive.

“I’m always getting texts and messages and it seems like everyone has an opinion telling me to shoot more, and there’s probably times they’re right and I can be more selfish and shoot the puck,” Eichel said. “It’s something I can go into the offseason and look at and say, ‘How can I find ways to score more goals, be better in the opportunities I have and find ways to contribute?’”

Cassidy said there’s a give-and-take with asking Eichel to shoot more.

His playmaking does make his teammates better. Eichel’s passing is one of the primary reasons why Barbashev scored so many goals and the Knights finished with the NHL’s second-best power play.

“I think Jack, if you looked at his game to grow a bit, he’d start shooting a little bit more,” Cassidy said. “He’s always had the ability to score. He likes to defer, set players up. That’s where there could be some growth in his game offensively.”

Cassidy doesn’t want Eichel or the rest of the team to completely alter their games. But looking to shoot a little more often could be the first step toward making another deep playoff run.

“We need a better mix,” Cassidy said.

Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.