Golden Knights’ 3rd line looks to end goal drought

A chance against the Los Angeles Kings showed the potential of the Golden Knights’ third line.

Left wing Mattias Janmark used his speed to sprint through the neutral zone and skate between two defenders. He passed the puck out wide to right wing Evgenii Dadonov, who drew a defender before sending it back toward the middle. Center Nicolas Roy skated to it before firing a hard one-timer toward goaltender Jonathan Quick.

It was an impressive sequence. But it ended in a familiar fashion for the three players: without a goal. Janmark, Roy and Dadonov have lengthy goal droughts entering Friday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena in Glendale.

The three have shown chemistry in limited action together and provided secondary scoring for the Knights at times. They just need to start doing so again in the final 31 games.

Coach Pete DeBoer said he has liked some of the chances the group has generated lately.

“They just didn’t stick it in the net,” DeBoer said. “If those dry up, if the looks dry up, then we’ll start to get worried.”

Janmark hasn’t scored in his past 14 games. It’s been 11 for Roy and Dadonov. Yet, when the three have been together, they’ve had results.

The Knights have a 5-2 edge in goals with them on the ice at five-on-five. They also have a 52.20 expected goals percentage.

The issue is time. The three have played 112:03 together, compared with 380:31 for the Knights’ “Misfit line” of left wing Jonathan Marchessault, center William Karlsson and right wing Reilly Smith.

Dadonov is new to the team, but Janmark and Roy spent time together on the Knights’ third line last season.

“He’s just a hard-working player,” Janmark said of Roy. “He’s got all the tools, big body, too. He’s easy to play with because he works really hard away from the puck, and he tries to make plays when he has it.”

The Knights have gotten production from the three despite their recent slump.

Roy has set career highs in goals (eight) and points (23) in his third season with the team. The 25-year-old also is playing a career-high 16:34 per game.

Janmark got off to a slow start after getting COVID-19 before the season and dealing with its effects for more than a month. The 29-year-old had only one assist in his first 11 games. His 0.37 points per game average is down compared with his 0.43 mark last season, but it’s better than his 0.34 points per game in 2019-20.

Dadonov is the one searching for his game the most since arriving in an offseason trade with Ottawa. The 31-year-old has scored at least 25 goals in three seasons. He has 10 in 49 games with the Knights. His 8.1 shooting percentage is his lowest since his first season in 2010.

“We want to be a hard matchup,” Roy said. “Obviously we have two really good top lines, but the third and fourth lines, we want to help them out, try to get some goals.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.