Knights look like their old 'selves in win over Cup champs

LAS VEGAS — Let’s face it, January has not been kind to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Even when the team has success, which has been rare this month, it doesn’t come easy. Witness the Knights’ 6-6-1 record since the calendar turned to 2025. But Bruce Cassidy’s team showed signs of getting back to its old self on Sunday, building a 2-0 lead, then holding off the Florida Panthers 4-1 at T-Mobile Arena in what was a battle between the last two Stanley Cup champions.

“We got five points this week,” Cassidy said. "We’ve got a three-game mini-homestand. How about we string some wins together?"

It took a couple of Cup champs from the Los Angeles Kings — Brayden McNabb and Tanner Pearson — to get the Knights a much-needed two points and elevate them back into first place in the NHL’s Pacific Division over the Edmonton Oilers. McNabb scored from the blue line in the first period for his third of the season while Pearson got his ninth of the year with a shot from inside the right circle.

Jack Eichel’s breakaway goal with 8:29 remaining helped give Vegas the added cushion and it took some of the pressure off of Adin Hill, who played one of his best games of the year in goal. Hill, who will be one of the goaltenders for Canada in next month’s 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament, stopped all but one of the 32 shots he faced.

“It feels good,” Hill said. “We did a good job playing our game tonight.”

Does this mean the Knights are out of the woods? Not quite. There are still two tough games on the horizon — Tuesday vs. Dallas and Thursday against surprising Columbus — both at T-Mobile. Then it’s four games on the East Coast before the 4 Nations break.

“I think it’s just a matter of playing veteran hockey and putting our foot down,” Pearson said. “It’s been a struggle here lately so we needed to be that team that puts its foot down.

“Tonight was a better game for sure. We can take some things from that going into Tuesday (vs. the Stars).”  

The power play, which has been humming with goals in eight straight games, was 0-for-2 Sunday against the Panthers. But given the way Vegas operated overall, no one’s complaining.

Right now, it’s about trying to stay healthy and get ready for the 4 Nations break by finishing strong. The Knights had seven players scheduled to participate along with Cassidy, who is an assistant with Team Canada. But defenseman Alex Pietrangelo opted out for Canada and center William Karlsson is on IR with a lower body injury and he will likely not be available to Sweden.

But the bigger picture is what’s important to management. The Knights have only had their entire roster intact for a handful of games this season. So it’s understandable why there could be concerns over Hill, Eichel, Mark Stone, Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore, the five VGKers scheduled to play in Montreal and Boston in a few weeks. The last thing this team needs is to have to place another player or players on IR or LTIR before the season resumes Feb. 22 vs. Vancouver.

And while there have been several pleasant surprises this season, from Pearson to Keegan Kolesar, who had a pair of assists Sunday, to Brett Howden to Pavel Dorofeyev, the team’s top goal scorer with 21, the reality is Vegas is going to need everyone in order to make a serious push at reclaiming the Stanley Cup this spring.

Yes, it’s nice that there have been steady contributions from the bottom six and that Dorofeyev, a third-round draft pick of the VGK in 2019, has blossomed into a bonafide NHL scorer. And the recent improved play of Tomas Hertl, who extended his points streak Sunday to nine games with an empty net goal, has been encouraging.

Still, they miss Karlsson, who despite being mired in a horrendous slump prior to getting hurt six days ago against St. Louis, remains a valuable commodity. He is the team’s top faceoff man, one of their top penalty killers and gives Cassidy the flexibility to use him with various wingers.

It wasn’t that long ago — Jan. 9 — that the Knights had the best record in hockey. But then they swooned and they even fell out first in the Pacific briefly Saturday. But Sunday’s win got them back into first.

Nobody’s worried about or talking about the President’s Trophy, which goes to the team with the most total points at season’s end. For the Knights, it’s about getting back to playing a consistent game, having four lines skating and contributing, three defensive pairs doing their job and the goaltender stopping pucks.

That was the case Sunday and for the first time in a while, the Knights looked like, well, the Knights. They’ll get a chance to build on that come Tuesday.