Friday, Jan. 24, 2025 | 2 a.m.
The Vegas Golden Knights’ stretch of losses — six of the last five games — wasn’t about offense; it was about defense.
Monday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues proved that the Golden Knights had no issue finding the back of the net but struggled to limit their opponent from high-danger opportunities.
Rematching against the Blues on Thursday in St. Louis, Vegas suppressed St. Louis’ offense from puck drop to the final buzzer.
The Blues had 17 shots on goal, but they were limited to just four shots each in the first and second periods. The defensive surge helped the Golden Knights snap a four-game skid and win 4-2.
“I didn’t feel like we caved in for long stretches. We managed the game at the right time, and by that, I mean the last minute of periods and end of shifts,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We didn’t give them (Blues) any freebies. We were all determined to play the right way.”
Thursday’s game was the first time in three matchups that the Golden Knights had not allowed their opponent to score in the final two minutes of a period.
Vegas kept St. Louis at bay and didn’t allow them to find a window to run away with the game, unlike the last few games. Cassidy felt like the Golden Knights were “never in trouble.”
“It was very no stress at all,” Victor Olofsson said. “We just kept playing the same way, even though they (Blues) got a couple of goals there. We want to definitely build on this.”
Mark Stone opened scoring for the Golden Knights 19 seconds into the game. He finished the night with two points.
Olofsson extended his road point streak to 10 games after recording a first-period goal to put Vegas up 2-0.
On the power play, Pavel Dorofeyev scored his team-leading 21st goal of the season and now has 10 points in six games. Tomas Hertl added an empty-net goal in the final minute for his 11th point in seven games.
The Golden Knights needed the win, and they believe they can carry this momentum into today’s road matchup against the Dallas Stars.
“Game-to-game momentum went the other way for us for the last two weeks, where we seem to find ways to let the game get away from us,” Cassidy said. “Tomorrow, we can just do a carryover from this game.”
While there’s relief in finally getting the monkey off their backs, the Golden Knights are aware of what’s ahead, what it’ll take to keep winning and how to manage playing a back-to-back.
They play in Dallas for the first time since losing Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff quarterfinals. The Stars have also had the majority of the week off, with their last game being a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
“We can do a lot of same things with a quick turnaround, but we have to keep our shifts shot and be a little bit smarter to start the game,” Stone said. “Obviously, we’d like to get a goal 19 seconds, but we’d love to have a quick start because we’re in game mode and we’re rolling.”