The last time the Vegas Golden Knights lost a hockey game was on December 12th, 21 days ago. The last time they lost in regulation was December 1st, 31 days ago. That’s awesome news… unless you are a Golden Knights healthy scratch waiting for your chance to get back into the lineup.
It’s not done on a daily basis but I talked to some of those players a couple days ago and I talked to Sbisa today. They understand, they are true pros and that’s why our team has been so good. We have a bunch of good leaders and character guys. They all want to play, they are all ready to play. That’s the toughest decision I have to make every day. When you are winning games your players understand. It’s hard to go out there and say well we are going to switch it up. Sometimes you have to do that but right now the way things are going we are pretty comfortable with our lineup. Everybody understands, and that’s what I like about our team. They aren’t happy about it, but they understand. -Gerard Gallant
Winning streaks aren’t awesome for everybody. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
Luca Sbisa got injured against Carolina (12/12), he hasn’t played since. Brad Hunt has been a healthy scratch in every game since the win at Dallas (12/9). William Carrier was hurt in Arizona (11/25) and he hasn’t come off the IR despite practicing every day for nearly a month, and Ryan Carpenter who was picked up on waivers on December 13th has yet to put on a Golden Knights jersey.
None of these decisions are because they are bad players. In fact, Hunt was playing great in his time in the lineup, Carrier played most games on the excellent “fourth” line, and Sbisa was a member of the top defensive pairing. It’s simply because the Golden Knights refuse to lose.
We don’t want them to lose though either. The boys are playing great and you understand it’s all part of it. You’ve got to be great teammates and make sure we are ready when we do get a chance. -Brad Hunt
Then there’s Carpenter. The Golden Knights went out of their way to claim him on waivers three weeks ago, yet he remains on the shelf waiting for that first opportunity.
Turk has talked to all of us but it’s pretty obvious in pro hockey, if you are winning and everyone is playing well you don’t change it up. If I were in the lineup and we were playing like that I wouldn’t want to be taken out. You are on the first place team in the division, so there’s absolutely no part of me that feels entitled to play. -Ryan Carpenter
The Golden Knights seven game winning streak did happen to begin the moment Carpenter walked in the building.
Do you think you deserve any credit for the winning streak? -SinBin.vegas
Absolutely not. -Carpenter
So here we are tonight, January 2nd, with another home game against the Nashville Predators and yet again, Hunt, Sbisa, Carrier, and Carpenter will sit out. It’s a small price to pay to keep up the winning ways, luckily they all seem to be just fine with it.
Brian
Gallant with team first mentality and the team is buying in. This is how Belicheck and the Pats do it as well and they seem to do well by it.
vegashockey
Know why we’re playing so well?
Every player feels he has somethingu to prove.
Slack
There is nothing unfortunate about this winning streak.