The Vegas Golden Knights have turned things around after a rough stretch and will look to keep rolling when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
Vegas was in a rut from Jan. 9 to Feb. 4, managing just three wins in 14 games during that stretch (3-8-3). The team snapped a four-game slide on Feb. 6, taking a 3-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils. They enter Sunday’s contest on a four-game winning streak and are 7-1-0 in their past eight games.
On Friday, the Golden Knights skated away with a 4-0 triumph against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ve outscored the opposition 30-17 during the eight-game run, with 10 of those goals against coming over two games — both with Ilya Samsonov in net. Samsonov picked up the win against Pittsburgh.
“I had a couple of bad games and need to take a couple of steps back in order to get moving forward,” Samsonov said. “We (Samsonov and goalie coach Sean Burke) discussed a lot about my game and what we want to see in this game.”
The Golden Knights will be looking to avenge their lone blemish over the past month, a 5-2 loss to the division rival Kings on Feb. 24. Vegas held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes before Los Angeles tallied four times in the third period to take the win.
After that setback, Bruce Cassidy’s squad was only two points up on second place in the Pacific Division and five points ahead of the Kings in third place. Fast forward nearly two weeks, and the Golden Knights hold a nine-point advantage on Los Angeles, with 20 games remaining.
Tomas Hertl, a bombshell trade deadline acquisition one year ago on March 8, has helped fuel Vegas’ run over the past month. The 31-year-old has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past eight games, being held off the scoresheet only twice during that stretch.
The Kings, meanwhile, enter Sunday’s tilt looking to build off a 2-1 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, a victory that snapped a five-game losing streak (0-3-2). They outshot the Blues 20-13 in the final two periods after being outshot 7-2 in the first.
“Anything can happen in overtime, but yeah, that was important,” coach Jim Hiller said. “… It was work, and we just don’t go away from playing tenaciously, which is, I think, what we did, certainly the second half of the game.”
With the win, Los Angeles moved three points ahead of the division foe Calgary Flames, who hold the second wild card from the Western Conference.
Quinton Byfield scored the game-winner against the Blues, his second straight game with a goal after a 12-game drought. His career high is 20, set last season.
“I think he’s starting to assert himself,” Hiller said. “Once you do that, you get more confident, get more confidence shooting the puck. You want the puck when you shoot it, you don’t overthink it. I was thinking he should bring that thing across the goal line on his backhand. … He had about this much room short side and he hit the back of the net. It was a heck of a shot.”
–Field Level Media
