Friday night the Golden Knights were without Nate Schmidt and Luca Sbisa. Shea Theodore returned to the lineup, but he had missed the previous six games. Those are facts, but those also could be viewed as excuses for a team that’s had players in and out of their blue line for the entire season. Only recently though have they seen their goal against average balloon, especially at home.
It looked like it made a huge difference tonight. Other guys get chances to play and they’ve dominated all year long. I’m disappointed with the way a lot of guys played tonight. We didn’t compete hard enough. -Gerard Gallant
That statement came after a game in which the Golden Knights allowed five goals to the Ottawa Senators, a team that averages just 2.75 goals a game and an embarrassing 2.18 goals per game on the road.
It’s just another example of the recent downturn defensively the Golden Knights have experienced in their own building.
- First 24 home games
- 2.21 Goals Against Average
- Allowed 3+ goals: 9 times
- 1 out of every 2.66 games
- Last 9 home games
- 3.00 Goals Against Average
- Allowed 3+ goals: 6 times
- 1 out of every 1.5 games
It’s become a real problem and it’s one that must be corrected soon as the “goals for” column tends to dry up a bit in the playoffs.
