The Vegas Golden Knights kick off a three-game road trip on Saturday against the Calgary Flames needing to change their recent fortunes.
Thanks to a two-game losing skid, the Golden Knights (45-22-8, 98 points) have seen their lead on the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division standings fall to three points.
Their latest setback was a sub-standard performance in a 4-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
“We had a really good stretch of hockey, and now we’ve lost two in a row,” captain Mark Stone said. “So, you can feel sorry for yourselves, or you can pick yourself off the mat and get back to work and put in your best effort on Saturday night. We’re playing a desperate team that is still fighting and clawing to try and make the playoffs. So, we have to be at our best.”
Vegas was riding a six-game winning streak before they dropped both parts of a two-game homestand. After suffering a 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, they floundered through much of the Winnipeg loss, managing more than half of their shots on goal during an attempted third-period comeback.
“We’ve got to get that part of our game in order. The style of play we need to play, to excel if we want to get to where we want to go,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s that simple. So, (Thursday’s game) wasn’t good enough. The players, if they haven’t acknowledged it, they should. They’re a very honest group. Self-analyze well. So, we’ve got to correct that.”
The Flames (36-27-12, 84 points) are in the mix to claim a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs but have almost zero margin for error.
Calgary, which captured a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, is five points back of the Minnesota Wild for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot with seven games remaining. Calgary has one game in hand on the Wild.
“It was a game we needed. We need them all,” said forward Blake Coleman, who scored twice against the Ducks. “Guys showed up, played well, a good home game. We got to turn the page here pretty quick but can build off that game. Especially the second and third (periods), I thought we really took over.”
Now to see whether the emotional boost of winning for only the second time in five outings is enough to help springboard the Flames to pull a little closer to the playoffs amidst the strain of playing so many “must-win” games.
“It’s never easy to be in that position, where you feel like you’ve got to win the game, but we’re certainly getting used to that,” forward Nazem Kadri said.
“We got to take care of home ice, that’s just how it’s got to be, and we’re prepared to do that,” Kadri added. “Of course, I don’t think there’s a question on whether we’re losing hope or not. We’re believing, I feel like we’ve played some great hockey over the last handful of games, and some days haven’t gotten the result we wanted, so it was nice to get the two points (against Anaheim).”
–Field Level Media
