If you walk the Las Vegas Strip this week, the lights are as bright as ever, but the mood inside T-Mobile Arena has dimmed considerably. For a franchise that has made winning look almost effortless since its inception, the Vegas Golden Knights are currently navigating the choppiest waters in their history.
We are early in January 2026, and the Golden Knights are in a freefall. Having won just a single game in their last nine outings — a dismal 1-5-3 stretch — the team is mired in a slump that feels heavier than the usual mid-season fatigue. This isn’t just a bad week; it’s a systemic breakdown in closing out games, compounded by a roster held together by tape and grit.
This goes beyond bad puck luck. It’s a concerning trend of blown leads, overtime ineptitude, and a depleted lineup that is finally showing the cracks in the armor.
The Art of the Collapse
What makes this current skid particularly frustrating for the coaching staff isn’t necessarily that Vegas is losing, but how they are losing. This is a team built on structure and transition, yet lately, they look fragile the moment adversity hits.
The most glaring issue is the inability to protect a lead. In five of their last nine contests, Vegas scored the opening goal — a scenario that, historically, was a death knell for their opponents. Yet, they managed to salvage a win in only one of those games. In a recent six-game sample, they scored first five times but walked away with just four points in the standings. That is a mathematically impressive level of inefficiency.
Then there is the issue of extra time. The 3-on-3 overtime format is often dismissed as a skills competition, but it reveals a lot about a team’s possession game and individual confidence. Vegas has plummeted to a 4-12 record in games decided past regulation. You can blame variance for a few of those, but 12 losses suggest a tactical disconnect.
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The lowest point of this stretch might have been the recent loss to a depleted Chicago Blackhawks squad. It wasn’t just a loss; it was a surrender. Vegas was outshot 17-7 over the final two periods and overtime, generating a measly two shots on goal in the third period and overtime combined. That is not the offensive push of a contender; that is a team trying to run out the clock and failing.
The Infirmary Report: Valid Reason or Easy Excuse?
To be fair to the locker room, the Golden Knights are not playing with a full deck. The injury report reads like a list of All-Stars, and the impact on the ice is undeniable.
The most critical blow is the “back-end void” created by the absence of the top defensive pairing, Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb. Theodore drives the transition game, while McNabb provides the physical stabilizing presence. Without them, the depth defenders are being asked to punch above their weight class, leaving netminders exposed to high-danger chances.
Up front, the loss of William Karlsson cannot be overstated. “Wild Bill” is the Swiss Army knife of this roster. Without him, the team’s ability to defend the slot and win battles along the boards has evaporated. Combine that with starting goaltender Adin Hill being on the shelf, and you have a recipe for defensive regression.
The numbers bear this out: during this skid, the Golden Knights are allowing nearly 3.03 goals per game, and the penalty kill has dipped to a mediocre 81.4 percent. When your best killers are in suits in the press box, the structure inevitably suffers.
Déjà Vu: The “January Curse”
Here is the silver lining for the optimists in the crowd: we have seen this movie before.
Mid-season slumps are becoming something of a tradition in Vegas, leading fans and analysts to whisper about a “January Curse.” It is worth remembering that the 2023 Stanley Cup championship team was abysmal around this time of year, posting a 2-6-4 record in January before righting the ship.
However, historical precedent is not a guarantee of future success. This current five-game losing streak is the first of its kind under Bruce Cassidy. While the franchise has endured three such streaks in its history, seeing a Cassidy-coached team look this disjointed is jarring.
There is a psychological component at play here. Observers have noted that the team looks “uninspired” and plays “scared hockey” the moment momentum shifts. Confidence is a finite resource in the NHL, and right now, the Golden Knights seem to be running on empty.
The Cassidy Ultimatum
Cassidy has never been one to mince words, and his patience has clearly run out. His recent comments to the press — stating “enough’s enough” and challenging his squad to “start playing like” the contenders they claim to be — signal a shift in tone.
Cassidy is frustrated by the lack of urgency. He knows injuries are a factor, but he also knows that champion-caliber teams find ways to grind out points, or at the very least, compete for a full 60 minutes. The effort against Chicago was likely the tipping point.
The Pacific Paradox
Perhaps the strangest aspect of this entire situation is the standings. Despite enduring the worst stretch in franchise history, the Golden Knights remain tied for first place in the Pacific Division.
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This speaks less to Vegas’s dominance and more to the collective mediocrity of the division this season. Every team in the Pacific currently holds a negative goal differential — a statistical anomaly that is keeping Vegas’s head above water.
The division is forgiving right now, providing a safety net that the Golden Knights probably don’t deserve based on recent play. But relying on the failures of rivals is not a sustainable strategy. The “January Curse” may be a comforting narrative, reminding us of the 2023 turnaround, but narratives don’t block shots or clear the crease.
The Golden Knights need to get healthy, but more importantly, they need to rediscover their identity. If they don’t, they might find that their luck in the desert finally runs dry.
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