LAS VEGAS (AP) — The goals suddenly aren't coming for the Golden Knights, which means the losses are as they embark on a four-game trip.
Vegas has scored 11 goals in five games, losing four of them, including Friday's 5-2 defeat to New Jersey. Only six of those goals came 5 on 5.
It's a surprising power outage for a team loaded with All-Stars from Jack Eichel to Mitch Marner to Mark Stone.
“We are creating some opportunities,” coach Ryan Craig said. “We haven't finished as well. We haven't played with a lead as much as we did earlier. So it could be those things force you to squeeze your stick a little bit. We shouldn't be concerned about that part of our game because when we do manage the puck and we do check, we create enough (opportunities), they're going to go in.”
Finding the back of the net certainly wasn't a challenge when Vegas opened the season 8-2. The Golden Knights scored 41 goals in those 10 games, 29 at even strength.
But then came the struggles. Take away the 4-1 victory over Ottawa on Tuesday night, the Golden Knights had just seven goals in the four losses, though one was in overtime. Even against the Senators, only one goal came at 5 on 5; two were empty-netters and another on a power play.
The Golden Knights don't seem overly concerned, and out of an 84-game schedule, a five-game dry spell is a small sample size.
“We've got to play better, that's for sure, but we have a really good team,” forward Ivan Barbashev said. “A lot of the players have been in the league for many years. We've got to figure it out and get out of this slump. We'll be better.”
Vegas spent most of the early season in first place in the Pacific Division, but Edmonton now is a point ahead of them. Each team has represented the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final twice in the past four years, so the chances of them battling it out for the division seem fairly high.
The Golden Knights soon leave on a trip that begins Monday night at Boston and continues to Pittsburgh, Detroit and Buffalo.
Breaking out of a scoring drought isn't easy anywhere, but especially challenging on the road.
“It's completing passes. It's stacking shifts,” Craig said. “Can you build off that? Can you get back to work when it doesn't go your way? I think our execution from the last 10 days maybe hasn't been at the level we needed it to be. We're going to get on the ice (Saturday) and we're going to touch it before we head east, so for me, it's an opportunity to continue to push through.”
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