Connor McDavid is fast, so fast that it feels like he has the ability to turn on the video game turbo button when no one else can. By my count, in two games against the Golden Knights, McDavid created nine scoring chances, including five directly in front of the net… on his own. Literally, no one else had to do anything but skate to the front of the goal, McDavid did the rest.

He’s ridiculously fast. We’ve got to manage our players. When they go out on the ice against him they’ve got to try and keep his speed away. Try and pick him up early, try and deny him the puck, but every coach says the same thing, it’s tough to do. -Gerard Gallant

Raise your right hand if you think you can stop Connor McDavid. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

One of the biggest reasons stopping McDavid is such a challenge is the incredible amount of time he spends on the ice. In the last game at T-Mobile Arena, McDavid logged 25:22 of ice time. No Golden Knight forward crossed 22 minutes and Shea Theodore, a defenseman, led the team with 24:01, nearly a minute and half less than McDavid.

McDavid averages 21:28 of ice time per game. The Golden Knights leader, again, a defenseman, Nate Schmidt comes in at 22:21. Vegas’ top forward, William Karlsson, averages 18:26, a solid four to five shifts fewer than McDavid.

McDavid’s elite speed and skill have to be matched carefully, you can’t just throw anyone out there against him. All Star head coach Gerard Gallant loves to roll his four lines in order as often as possible, but against Edmonton and McDavid, that’s simply not possible.

There’s probably two lines I like to have against him most of the time or as much as possible and there’s four defensemen I like to have against him. But sometimes it doesn’t happen like that, they’ll throw him out every second shift or third shift. But every player in the NHL can play against those guys. -Gallant

He’s talking about Marchessault/Karlsson/Smith and probably Carpenter/Bellemare/Nosek (though Perron/Haula/Neal played more time against McDavid in the last game), and the defensive pairings of Schmidt/McNabb and Theodore/Engelland.

But here in lies the problem, and likely the reason the Golden Knights have struggled with the Oilers; Gallant admits that it doesn’t always work that way. In the OT victory on January 13th, McDavid’s line went scoreless against the Golden Knights top line, yet he was still on the ice for a pair of goals, the two even-strength goals Edmonton scored in the game. Marchessault, Karlsson, and Smith may shut him down, but that doesn’t mean he’s down and out of the game completely.

It’s a conundrum that every team in the league deals with when they play Edmonton. This year, most have solved the riddle. To this point the Golden Knights have not.

They’ve got another shot at it tonight, and if they do, they’ll become the first team in the Western Conference to reach 80 points, but as Turk implied, it’s easier said than done.

Luca, the good guy is about to go out there. Luca? Hey, where’s Luca? Doesn’t he know we really need him tonight? (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

As you’ve read on SinBin.vegas, containing individual talent has been a key factor in the early success of the Golden Knights. Today, on a day in which the Golden Knights are set to face the league’s superstar, we’re taking a closer look at how Vegas has done against each of the previous stars they’ve faced.

Our sample includes 21 star players over the course of the first 16 games of the season. 13 stars performed under their points per game averages, including eight who went scoreless against the Golden Knights. While only eight of the 21 exceeded their average against Vegas. Plus, you could argue at least four of the eight (Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, Patrick Kane, Erik Karlsson) were skewed by late-game, man-advantage points.

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Warning: This is about as in-depth on hockey tactics as we will likely ever get on this site, but here goes.

Tomorrow night the Vegas Golden Knights travel to Alberta to take on the Edmonton Oilers and one of the league’s best players Connor McDavid. Before they left for the road trip, we caught up with Nate Schmidt and he gave about as in-depth of a breakdown on how to stop slow one of the league’s greats.

So what exactly is Schmidt saying here?

The first thing he says is “make sure you have a good gap.” What Schmidt is talking about when he says gap is the distance between the defenseman and the attacking forward. Usually, the ideal scenario for a defenseman is to be within one stick length of the forward when the player enters the blue line. This closes down the space the forward has to make a play. Against a player like McDavid who has elite speed, the gap often increases because he’s either moving so quickly or the defenseman doesn’t feel comfortable staying in front of him. When he says “good gap” he means he wants to be as close to McDavid as possible without being left in the dust.

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