3 takeaways from Knights’ win: Marchessault hat trick ends losing skid
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy approached the line of Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev and challenged them to set the tone for a team quickly growing desperate for victories.
They answered the call in a resounding manner.
Marchessault had a hat trick, including the game-winning goal with 2:44 remaining and an empty-netter 1:37 later, to lead the Knights to a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
“They were our best line tonight. They really responded,” Cassidy said. “Obviously (Marchessault) finishing plays, (Barbashev) was physical in recovering pucks and doing all the things he had to do to complement that line. Good on them for leading us tonight.”
Cassidy said the conversation with the trio centered on the familiarity they had with each other while there have been so many other moving pieces on the team. That line was dominant during last year’s postseason run, and Cassidy said he felt it was time to start finding that level again now that Eichel has been back in the lineup for a few games after recovering from an injury.
He got exactly what he was looking for.
Marchessault gave the Knights (34-23-7) a 2-0 lead late in the first period when Eichel waited for the defense to commit on a rush and fed Marchessault across the ice for a finish.
The Red Wings (33-25-6) never led, but rallied to tie the game at 2-2 and then 3-3 in the third.
It was time for the stars of the night to answer again.
Eichel was able to get enough on an off-balance shot to create a rebound that fell right to Marchessault in front of the net for the go-ahead goal late in the game that breathed life into what had been an anxious crowd.
His empty-netter sealed the long-awaited home victory. The Knights hadn’t won at T-Mobile Arena since a 3-1 victory over Edmonton on Feb. 6.
“He’s been stepping up for us scoring goals all year, and tonight was no different,” Eichel said of Marchessault. “He scores in all different ways, and he’s been awesome for us all year.”
Eichel had three assists and a plus-4 rating, Barbashev had two helpers, and the trio combined for 17 shots on goal as the Knights snapped a four-game losing streak.
Marchessault said the work they put in was what led to the success.
“I thought (even more than) the production, we had a good forecheck to recover a lot of pucks, and we were able to generate time and just find each other and give each other space,” he said. “It was a good overall game for us.”
It was also a necessary one for the team. After an 11-0-1 start, the Knights have fallen to the final wild-card position in the Western Conference after stumbling to a 2-8-1 mark in their previous 11 games.
“The result takes precedence right now when you haven’t won in a while,” Cassidy said. “We always talk more about building our game, and we want to do that, but sometimes you need a win. There are times you just need a win, and we haven’t had very many of them.”
While he would have taken a victory any way it came, Cassidy said he was pleased with how the team battled.
“As a coach I liked the way we won,” he said. “Playing the right way and getting the win and playing through some adversity, you’re checking a lot of boxes that we haven’t checked in a while.”
Here are three takeaways from the win:
1. Welcome back
Pavel Dorofeyev was back in the lineup for the first time since taking a vicious elbow to the head from the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba on Jan. 26, and he wasted no time getting back on the score sheet.
Dorofeyev opened the scoring midway through the first period with his eighth goal of the season in just his 30th game. He also has seven assists.
“This guy scores every game, huh?” Eichel laughed. “It’s awesome to have him back. He’s a natural goal scorer, and I know he’s worked really hard to come back. It’s not easy dealing with what he’s been dealing with, so a ton of credit to him and it’s good to see him get rewarded.”
Marchessault agreed.
“That’s just what he does, right? He scores goals,” he said. “It’s a luxury to have a guy like that on your team. You can put him anywhere and he’ll produce, so we’re definitely lucky to have him, and the future is bright for him.”
2. Settling in
Defenseman Noah Hanifin looked far more comfortable in his second game with the Knights than he did in his debut on Thursday.
Of course, it helps that he didn’t fly in the same morning as he did when the Knights traded for him and he was in the lineup hours after landing in Las Vegas.
“I thought he was great,” Eichel said. “I liked his game. He was moving his feet and getting up in the rush. It was good to see him feel a little more comfortable. He didn’t have to travel here this morning so it was a little bit more of a regular game for him so I’m sure he felt better about it and he had some legs.”
Hanifin had two assists and a plus-3 rating in the win.
“I felt a lot better for sure,” he said. “Good to get a few days under me and just get more comfortable with the guys and the staff. I had a little bit of a reset day (Friday), and I felt good.
“It was a lot of fun. Great atmosphere in the arena and super excited to be here and get a win tonight.”
3. Protecting the pick
Despite all the wheeling and dealing done by the Knights this week, the team was able to retain its first-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft.
That wasn’t by mistake.
While the Knights dealt their 2025 first-rounder to San Jose and their 2026 top selection to Calgary, they made clear to potential trade partners that the 2024 pick was off-limits.
There was good reason for that, according to general manager Kelly McCrimmon.
He appeared on the television broadcast Saturday night and said the organization made it a priority to keep the pick because the draft will take place in Las Vegas and they wanted to make sure the home fans would get the chance to witness the Knights making a selection in the first round.
“It complicated things a little bit,” McCrimmon said.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
