The Golden Knights have reached the part of the schedule where they can breathe a little.
They won’t have another back-to-back until mid-January. Ten of their next 12 games are at T-Mobile Arena. Only two of those games are against teams above the playoff cutline.
It’s a favorable stretch for the Knights, who will enter Thursday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks four points behind the Winnipeg Jets — with two games in hand — for the top spot in the NHL standings.
“We’ll take advantage of the schedule that’s in front of you,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Easier said than done. You’ve got to win the games and get the rest in between.”
The Knights (20-8-3) are coming off their most successful road trip of the season, when they took two of three against top Western Conference teams in Winnipeg and Minnesota. They rebounded after losing 6-3 in Edmonton on Saturday for a quality 3-2 win over the Wild 24 hours later.
They’re 9-2-1 in their last 12 games. The cumulative score, however, is only 36-32. Eight of those games have been decided by one goal. They’re 7-0-1 in those games and 10-1-3 in one-goal games this season.
Closing out games was a problem for the Knights last season, especially when it came to six-on-five situations with the opposing goalie pulled. They’ve been able to handle those games early on.
Those are the kinds of games, Cassidy said, that teams need to win now to be better suited for the playoffs. Part of that comes with playing better defensively, which the Knights have done by allowing 2.6 goals per game in the past 12.
“I think we can win games in different ways. We’ve always been able to do that,” defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “That’s what winning teams have to do.”
The Knights will get a close look at Pacific Division teams in the next 10 days. Their next five games are against division opponents, with Vancouver the only one challenging for a playoff spot.
But the Canucks, who played Wednesday at Utah, haven’t looked like the team that breezed to a division title and took the Edmonton Oilers to seven games in the second round last season.
Vancouver just went 3-2-1 on a six-game homestand. There were notable wins against Florida and Colorado, but the Canucks have not been on a pace that resembles last season’s 109-point campaign.
They just got star goaltender Thatcher Demko back from a knee injury that kept him out of the 2024 postseason, and he made 30 saves Saturday against Colorado for his first win of the season.
Demko will make his third straight start against Utah, which means the Knights could face goaltender Kevin Lankinen, 14-4-3 in 21 starts this season. Lankinen is recovering from the flu and could be a game-time decision.
The Knights will be at home for a while after a grueling November during which nine of 14 games were on the road.
There’s a potential letdown factor in play. They’re home for the holidays with plenty of days off between games. Cassidy said complacency could be a factor, but that’s more for a coach to worry about than the players.
“We shouldn’t be for lack of energy, so we shouldn’t be making mental mistakes, but we’ll see. You’ve got to play the games,” Cassidy said. “This is a stretch where we can re-establish ourselves.”
Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
Up next
Who: Canucks at Golden Knights
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: T-Mobile Arena
TV: KMCC-34
Radio: KKGK (1340 AM, 98.9 FM)
Line: Off
