Monday, Dec. 30, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy in one of the first practices of the preseason in September expressed his desire to be “the best defensive team in the Pacific Division.”
Through the first month, Vegas was winning game — but giving up too many goals in the process. It also struggled to defend on the rush.
Two months later, the Golden Knights are 10-1-0 in December and fresh off a 3-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Sunday. Its power play unit has been a strength all year, but as of late, its penalty-killing effort has been arguably better.
Against Calgary, the Golden Knights killed off four penalties, and that’s coming off the heels of a 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday, where they killed off four more penalties and scored two shorthanded goals.
When asked whether the Golden Knights had met Cassidy’s preseason goal of being the best defensive team in the Pacific Division, he was more positive.
“We’re getting closer to that (goal) if we’re not numbers-wise,” Cassidy said. “We’ve played a lot in our division and conference recently, so I’ve seen (other) teams, and I feel like that progression is going well. I feel like we’re right there.”
Cassidy cited defensive consistency, night after night, as a reason for the Golden Knights’ success. Throughout December, the corps stayed primarily healthy, and the pairings have not changed.
One of the more unsung players of the Golden Knights’ defense has been Brayden McNabb. He only has six points on the season but is a plus-21, which is tied for second in the league.
Players like Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore have also gotten into a groove of being more offensively minded, coming out of position to create scoring chances. That was also Cassidy’s mindset when talking about being the best defensive team in the division.
“You’re looking at three (defensive) pairs, and we don’t have to move pieces around,” Cassidy said. “That has made it easier on them, so give them credit for that part of it.”
Ilya Samsonov picked up his first shutout as a Golden Knight, making 31 saves in the win. That effort included four penalty kills, one of which was a 5-on-3 and a Calgary 6-on-5 in the final two minutes of the game.
“It was hard. Calgary has a good power play,” Samsonov said. “We blocked shots, played compact and didn’t have a lot of rebounds.”
Looking at their competition in the Pacific Division, Cassidy believes that there is still ground to be made up in order to become the best defensive team in the division.
The Los Angeles Kings have given up eight fewer goals than the Golden Knights have this season, for an average of 2.57 goals allowed per game. Despite Vegas being six points ahead of the Kings, statically Los Angeles is the better defensive team.
Cassidy is happy with his team’s defensive performance but wants to be in a position where he and the stats agree that Vegas’ defense is dominating the Pacific Division.
“Let’s have it on the stat sheet that we’re the best team and the eye test can tell you when you play Edmonton or LA,” Cassidy said. “Now, we haven’t played them a lot, so when you play them, what are you giving up?”
The game was scoreless for nearly two periods until Brett Howden scored for Vegas at the 15:59 mark of the second on assists from Alex Pietrangelo and Tanner Pearson. Victor Olofsson and Pearson had third-period goals.