Vegas is currently as healthy as it’s been all season, with defenseman Brayden McNabb and goalie Logan Thompson currently the only two players dealing with injuries. The Golden Knights took Friday off, and will have another off day on Sunday after skating Saturday morning. The most obvious advantage to finishing a series early is the extra rest players get. It’s not a penalty kill where you can ice it.”įine tuning the minutia is only one way the Golden Knights are hoping to maximize this break, though. I think sometimes we lose that mindset to support the puck when we get it back. When we’ve broken the puck out, that’s when we’ve scored that empty-net goal. “This year has been a challenge for us getting that empty-net goal, where some other teams make it look easy. “There is always something that pops up that we have to keep working at,” Cassidy said. The defending itself has been strong, holding teams out of the slot for the most part, but the breakouts once possession changes could be better. There are other things that Vegas hasn’t been at its best at lately that Cassidy is also examining, like the way the team has played facing an empty net and an extra attacker late in games. If Saturday’s drills can help the team better defend even one such situation in the second round, it would be well worth the practice time.
One way to do that is by practicing intricacies that the team isn’t as sharp on, like defending four-on-four situations. Even Cassidy is still unsure of exactly when the second round will start, but in the meantime, the team is trying to maximize the advantages of this break. “We wanted to revisit some of our structure there.”Īs the first team to win its first-round series, the Golden Knights have quite a bit of time before they will hit the ice again. “I don’t know if Winnipeg did it on purpose the other night, but down the road, I know if it’s Edmonton it’s probably something they would want,” Cassidy said. With the high-octane Edmonton Oilers as a potential second-round matchup, that is something Cassidy and the Golden Knights want to be prepared for. Protecting a lead, they believe the opponent may try to draw matching minors to create more space on the ice and easier scoring conditions.
It’s a very specific scenario Cassidy and his coaching staff are planning for. “It hasn’t been a big concern, but what happens in the playoffs is teams get behind and they look to take a guy with them and draw that to open up some ice.” “There are three-on-three drills that help you in overtime, but four-on-four we haven’t touched on a lot,” coach Bruce Cassidy said.
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