Zach Whitecloud on the rush. Noah Hanifin in the slot. Nic Hague with a wraparound.
Three Golden Knights defensemen scored goals in the last two games. They are not just goals by defensemen throwing pucks at the net from the blue line, but goals by defensemen being an active part of the offensive in multiple different ways.
With three bonafide stars all selected to represent their countries at 4 Nations, as good of a lockdown defenseman as there is in Brayden McNabb, and arguably the best 3rd pair in the league in Hague and Whitecloud, there’s no question the strength of this version of the Golden Knights is the blue line.
That’s why this summer and into Training Camp Bruce Cassidy set his sights on making sure their impact would not just be felt in the defensive end, but up the ice as well.
Involving the D, which we’ve been doing lately, keeping them involved whether it’s in the O-Zone play by getting pucks through or activating down the wall like Hanifin did on the play to Olofsson last night, or just being up the ice on the rush like Whitecloud’s goal the other night. -Bruce Cassidy
In a tale as old as time for not just the Golden Knights but every team that comes up short the year before in the playoffs, there’s a focus on finding more offense when the games get tighter. Vegas scored just 16 goals against the Dallas Stars in the playoffs last year and failed to score at least three in any of the last five games of the series.
We had a determined effort to be better in the O-Zone, not just the rush game. At the start of the year we were, now we’re a ‘yes and no’ type of team. That’s kind of the area we’ll keep pounding away on to make sure that you can rely on that game when the rush game and the power play dries up. -Cassidy
That has started to unfold with the defensemen becoming a bigger part of the attack.
What we’re encouraging them to do is to play on their toes. I don’t know if you want too many guys leading the rush because then the forwards end up waiting to see what’s going on. It’s more about supporting the rush. Move it, follow it, and be the next wave, or 4th man’s ice as we call it. They are doing a good job. -Cassidy
The key now for the Golden Knights is to find the balance between consistently having the “next wave” of defensemen coming forward and staying as defensively sound as they’ve been over the last month or so. It’s a tricky equilibrium to achieve, especially against teams potent in transition.
VGK haven’t allowed more than three goals in a game in any of their last eight while scoring at least three in seven. So, unleashing the defense is working well right now, making it a staple is the next step.
