Well, it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing all season.
Finally, after a record-setting dream start to the 2023-24 NHL season, the Vegas Golden Knights have hit their first stumbling block as reigning Stanley Cup champs. After staying unbeaten in regulation through the season’s first 12 games, they have suddenly dropped five of their past seven, with four of those losses coming by multiple goals.
Panic? Hardly. This team still reigns atop the Western Conference and boasts too much veteran leadership to go into a tailspin. Still, though, the recent blip in performance has highlighted some areas of weakness to address. With just one game – a big one at Dallas on Wednesday, no less – on the slate for this week, it seems like a welcome opportunity for a reset and a chance to get back to the club’s winning form.
While there is no real cause for concern, here’s what could stand to improve:
Barbashev Struggles
An underperforming player can tend to be overlooked or glossed over when the team around him is taking care of business. As soon as that’s no longer the case, however, their struggles become that much more evident. Fresh off signing a five-year, $25 million contract extension based largely on a terrific playoff performance, Ivan Barbashev has been a shell of that player early on this season.
While regular No. 1 linemates Jack Eichel (seven goals and 12 assists in 19 games) and Jonathan Marchessault (nine goals and four assists in 19 games) put up their typically strong numbers, Barbashev’s meager four goals and two assists have prompted a reshuffling that has seen the former St. Louis Blue bumped down to the third line. That demotion hasn’t sparked much of a response of late, as he has just one assist over his past six games and has seen his ice time dwindle to under 15 minutes per night.
Barbashev and the Golden Knights are 19 games into 2023-24 thus far, meaning that they are three games shy of their 22-game playoff total from last spring. Over those 22 postseason games, the 27-year-old managed seven goals and 11 assists. It was that Barbashev who earned this summer’s long-term contract, not to mention the guy who made Reilly Smith expendable. Vegas would love to see more of that guy right now.
Inconsistent Offense
Barbashev’s offensive woes come at a time when the overall Golden Knights offense has been plagued by maddening inconsistency. The club’s last four wins have produced an average of just under six goals per game, but the five losses in that stretch have seen them produce six goals total. That string of losses includes getting shut out by the backup goaltenders for the Washington Capitals (Charlie Lindgren) and Pittsburgh Penguins (Alex Nedeljkovic) (from ‘‘3 takeaways from Knights’ loss: Offense dries up against Penguins,’ Las Vegas Review-Journal, 11/19/23).
Secondary scoring, one of the biggest weapons from the Golden Knights’ early run, has been a problem here. No Vegas forward not named Eichel, Marchessault, William Karlsson, Brett Howden or Mark Stone has scored since Nov. 5 in Anaheim.
The early optimism that the organization’s forward depth would offer some additional punch seems to have quieted somewhat. Youngsters Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofeyev and the recently demoted Jonas Rondbjerg haven’t added much of late, but then again, neither have veterans like William Carrier, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio.
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Beasts of the East
Another interesting little trend to have developed of late is Vegas having difficulty with Eastern Conference opposition. The Golden Knights are currently 3-2-1 vs. teams from the East this season, compared to a 10-2-1 mark against the West. And strangely enough, that underwhelming record comes without games played against any of the East’s current top-five point-getters (the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning).
The good news is that after a bumpy four-game Eastern swing, the Golden Knights are back to facing their own conference. Nine of their next 10 games come against Western opponents. Of course, those games are all coming, starting with a pre-Christmas Southeastern trek that will include games against the Carolina Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers.
A six-game sample size isn’t particularly telling and so it’s entirely possible that Vegas quickly corrects this trend against the East. It’s still worth noting, however, considering how strong last season’s team was when facing the other Conference. They sported a 22-8-2 record in the regular season before capping it off with a convincing five-game Stanley Cup Final victory over the Panthers.
It’s going to take an awful lot more than a bit of a stumble to raise any serious questions about the Golden Knights (those can be reserved for the Edmonton Oilers). Nevertheless, even though things were never going to be sunshine and rainbows all season long, a few recent struggles present the chance to check in on certain areas of improvement. Heck, head coach Bruce Cassidy might even secretly like a bit of adversity cropping up after what seemed to be an unbeatable start.
