Pete DeBoer says rest of Knights’ schedule will be ‘a gauntlet’
The Golden Knights will have plenty to go over when they reconvene for a full team practice Wednesday at City National Arena.
Coach Pete DeBoer said it could be the team’s last full practice for a while.
The Knights have had a luxurious February schedule because of the NHL’s canceled Olympic break. They had few postponed games to make up and have played only six times this month.
The schedule starts to return to normal beginning with Friday’s road game against the Arizona Coyotes. The Knights will finish with a packed slate that will determine where they finish in the tightly contested Pacific Division.
“It’s going to be a gauntlet,” DeBoer said.
The sporadic schedule has been unlike any other they’ve had. October and November were fairly normal before COVID-19 outbreaks disrupted the NHL calendar in December.
The Knights didn’t play from Dec. 21 to 28 because of an extended holiday break. They had another gap from Jan. 11 to 17 because of postponements. Their current break from Sunday to Friday is their second longest this month. They also were off from Feb. 9 to 16.
The gaps came because COVID-19 disruptions left the NHL with 105 games to reschedule. The league rescheduled most of them during the original Olympic break from Feb. 6 to 22.
The Knights needed to make up four games. Calgary, on the other hand, had to make up 10 because of restrictions in Canada.
“It’s been weird,” right wing Chandler Stephenson said. “It seems like you’re in a slump or things are going well because you lost (or won) a game a week ago, and it seems like that’s carried on and carried over. It’s a bit of a challenge.”
The Knights won’t have to worry about lengthy breaks the rest of the season. They started by playing 51 games in 132 days. They play their final 31 in 64 days.
The Knights have played on consecutive days five times and have five more back to backs left. It’s why they’re focused on using their next few days to make sure their bodies are ready to handle the demanding schedule.
“We’re going to jump right into some serious action here with a lot of games,” left wing Max Pacioretty said. “We want to make sure that we go into this long stretch with confidence, but mainly confidence that our bodies are going to be able to hold up and be 100 percent, especially going into the playoffs.”
The good news for the Knights is their remaining schedule isn’t as daunting as that of some of their Pacific Division rivals.
They play only 11 teams in their final 31 games that are in a playoff position entering Tuesday’s games. That should give the Knights, second in the Pacific with 62 points in 51 games, an opportunity to hold their spot and chase a third division title in five years.
First-place Calgary (66 points from 49 games) plays 16 teams in a playoff position in their final 33 games. Third-place Edmonton (59 points from 50 games) faces 17. Fourth-place Los Angeles (59 points from 50 games, with Edmonton winning the regulation wins tiebreaker) plays 12.
The increased pace of the schedule should test the Knights, but they appear to have it easier than some of their peers.
“The most important thing — and this is where we have to check ourselves as coaches — above practicing, above doing more system work, is getting heading into March and April healthy and fresh,” DeBoer said. “That’s what we’re weighing this week.”
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
