Graney: Knights’ motivation comes from within, and that’s why they win

Bruce Cassidy says he’s not one to put on some delicious cream cheese topping to make things taste better. That he’s pretty honest with his Golden Knights players.

That most any motivation comes from within the locker room. That a veteran side that is self-driven is much easier to coach.

It’s a really long season. Incentive matters.

Even a Stanley Cup champion needs to be pushed often during an 82-game schedule, needs to discover a different gear when a Sunday during the holiday season against the lowly Ottawa Senators rolls around.

When your starting goalie goes down not seven minutes into a game.

The Knights took care of Ottawa 6-3 before 17,892 at T-Mobile Arena, bouncing back from a disappointing loss to Buffalo on Friday night.

“I thought we did a pretty damn good job after the first period,” captain Mark Stone said of an opening 20 minutes that ended in a 2-2 tie. “We played the game we wanted to play. I thought we did a great job capitalizing on the chances we did get.”

The biggest news came in goal, where Adin Hill returned to action for the first time since Nov. 30 after suffering a lower-body injury. He didn’t last long.

Hill left after allowing a power-play goal at 6:25 of the first period Sunday, replaced by Logan Thompson.

Thompson also appeared to injure himself in the third period but remained in the game.

Jiri Patera was assigned back to Henderson earlier in the day.

Hope he didn’t make it too far down the 215.

‘We motivate ourselves’

This is a team, however, used to handling goalie injuries. It seems whoever has been in net over the last year has done the job. Hasn’t made much of a difference whose name is on the back of a sweater.

It’s a fact that could be tested yet again depending on Thompson’s health.

“I think he’s going to be just fine,” Cassidy said.

These are the games in which you need to find something within, and there’s no question the Buffalo loss helped in that realm. Even when the Knights earned a comfortable lead in the second period Sunday, they kept pushing forward.

“I think we motivate ourselves,” said center Nicolas Roy, who had a power-play goal. “We have a lot to play for. We want to go back-to-back, so there’s obviously some big expectations. You’re not always going to have the same energy every night. You have to find it. You have to grind through.

“Everybody goes through it. Obviously, we can’t wait to make the playoffs, but you have to go game-to-game and try to get your game in the right place.”

So now it’s back to the road for games at Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida before Christmas, back to the grind, back to finding different types of motivation depending on the day and opponent.

Scary thing is, the Golden Knights could play much better than we’ve seen the last week.

Just the reality of going through those 82 before the real fun begins.

Finding a way

“They have to balance the big picture with staying in the moment, which is just about being competitive,” Cassidy said. “Our guys love to play. They want to win. They don’t need their buttons pushed all the time. At times I will, but it’s mostly the inner drive of the group.

“Any athlete that is self-driven and self-motivated is a lot easier to coach. If you can find 20 of those in a locker room, now you’re in business. I think we have a lot of guys like that.”

It’s a really long season. Motivation can be hard to come by every night.

But when you’re as good as the Golden Knights, you usually find a way. They did again after the Buffalo defeat.

Ottawa has been known to cure all ills. Especially on a Sunday during the holiday season.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.