Golden Knights return to ice after much-needed holiday break

The Golden Knights hope to be refreshed and rejuvenated when they take the ice Wednesday at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

They looked anything but in their final game before the NHL-mandated three-day Christmas break.

The Knights (21-9-5) dropped all three games of their southeastern road swing to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida heading into the break and allowed 15 goals.

Part of the reason was they played the final two games without injured goaltenders Logan Thompson and Adin Hill. But the defensive lapses started before that.

The Knights have allowed at least four goals in six of their past seven games, the exception a 6-3 win over Ottawa on Dec. 17 at T-Mobile Arena.

Coach Bruce Cassidy said he thinks the time away from the rink will help his team regroup beginning with Wednesday’s game against the struggling Ducks (12-21-0).

“I think we’re ready for a break regardless if we had won all three games,” Cassidy said after Saturday’s loss to the Panthers. “We’ve played more games than anyone and more road games than home games, so I think we’ve had a pretty intense schedule.”

Cassidy acknowledged there are things his team needs to work on and admitted any three-game losing streak is a cause for concern. But the league pause allows no time for practice, so the focus has been stepping away from the season and finding more of a life balance to help in the reset.

“We’ve got some stuff we have to sort through (on the ice), and we’ll do that, but there’s no practice time, so it’s right back at it,” Cassidy said. “We’ll use the three days to our advantage and then get right back to work in Anaheim.”

Defenseman Alec Martinez agreed.

“Breaks are a good opportunity to reflect on your own game individually and as a team,” he said.

There have been comparisons around the team to last season’s All-Star break, which the Knights limped into on a four-game road losing streak only to emerge on a tear that they carried all the way to a Stanley Cup championship.

While Cassidy acknowledged the comparison, he pointed out that was a much longer break and the issues are quite different.

“Then, we were having trouble scoring,” he said. “That was our biggest issue. We were having to win games 2-1 and weren’t quite able to do it. We’re actually scoring some goals now, just not enough to overcome some of the mistakes we’re making in keeping the puck out of the net.”

Captain Mark Stone is one of seven Knights to have played in all 35 games.

“It’s probably a good time for a break, for sure,” he said.

Stone, Cassidy and Martinez acknowledged special teams as an area in which the Knights can clean up their game. They have allowed multiple power-play goals in four straight games, surrendering nine goals in 18 opportunities.

They allowed 11 power-play goals in the first 31 games.

“Special teams definitely hurt us this trip, but more importantly, we have to play a full 60 minutes,” Martinez said. “We’ve played some good hockey in sections of games, but this is the National Hockey League and there’s a lot of great teams. If you don’t put together a full 60, you’re not going to win very often.”

That comes down to correcting the little details, Stone said.

“We haven’t been winning our one-on-one battles the way we normally do,” he said. “I didn’t think we generated a ton off the rush, which we’re normally pretty good at because we’re able to win the walls as wingers and spring our centers.

“But we’ve been through adversity before. We’ll be ready to go out of the break. We need to get our rest and recovery and be ready for a good stretch of hockey.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.