What’s wrong with Golden Knights, and can they right the ship?

The Golden Knights woke up Saturday morning out of the NHL playoff picture with 22 games remaining.

That’s unfathomable for a team that entered the season as co-favorites to win the Stanley Cup with Colorado at the Westgate SuperBook. This season was supposed to be about the Knights breaking through after being eliminated in the semifinals in two consecutive postseasons.

Instead, the home stretch will be about them fighting just to stay alive.

The Knights, losers of three straight, are at a crossroads entering the final days before the March 21 trade deadline. As general manager Kelly McCrimmon and president of hockey operations George McPhee ponder what to do, here are three reasons the team is sputtering:

1. Injuries

There are excuses, and there are facts.

There is no excuse for the Knights playing as poorly as they have recently, even with the players they have out of the lineup. But there’s no question the absences are having a significant impact.

The Knights have six regulars on injured reserve: right wing Mark Stone, left wing Mattias Janmark, centers Brett Howden and Nolan Patrick, and defensemen Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb. They have three other players — right wing Reilly Smith, left wing Max Pacioretty and goaltender Robin Lehner — nursing injuries. Smith and Lehner have missed the past two games, and Pacioretty left Friday’s 5-2 loss at Pittsburgh in the second period.

Those injured players account for three top-six forwards, two top-four defensemen and a starting goaltender. Their nine combined salary-cap hits are $38.335 million. The NHL’s upper limit is $81.5 million.

But the Knights have six other players with a cap hit of at least $5 million — centers Jack Eichel and William Karlsson, left wings Jonathan Marchessault and Evgenii Dadonov, and defensemen Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo — who should be carrying the team. They still should be able to win some games.

“That’s just adversity that we’ve faced all year,” Marchessault said. “There’s always stuff that happens to us. No one’s going to feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to find a way to win a hockey game, and we’re not doing that right now.”

2. Lack of offense

Hockey is a dynamic, fast-paced game, but sometimes it’s simple.

It’s all about putting the puck in one net and keeping it from going in the other. The Knights have been decent at one of those things lately and dreadful at the other.

The Knights are scoring 2.14 goals per game since the All-Star break, which ranks 31st in the NHL. Some of that is attributable to injuries and a last-place power play in that stretch. But a lot of it is just a lack of finish.

The Knights rank fourth in shot attempts and sixth in scoring chances per 60 minutes at five-on-five in that stretch, according to the website NaturalStatTrick.com. They’re getting looks. They just can’t convert.

The Knights’ shooting percentage in all situations in that span is 6.13 percent, last in the league. The difference between them and 30th-place Ottawa (8.32 percent) is similar to the one between the Senators and 16th-ranked Minnesota (10.65 percent).

“There’s definitely some things that we’re happy about,” Pietrangelo said. “We’ve done a lot of good things with our structure. But it’s a winning business, and you’ve got to find a way to win.”

3. Awful thirds

There are many other reasons the Knights are struggling.

Some of their best players aren’t producing. Theodore doesn’t have a goal in his past 19 games, and Karlsson doesn’t have one in his past 13. Dadonov has one in his past 20. The team’s goaltending, which ranks 17th in save percentage in all situations since the All-Star break, has been fine but not great.

But what’s really holding the Knights back in the standings is their inability to finish games. Five of their past eight losses have come when they’ve led or been tied entering the third period. Four of those losses came in regulation, meaning the Knights couldn’t even grab a point.

Those dropped points are why they fell out of a playoff spot.

“It’s a challenge, but that’s the ups and downs of the season,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve got a lot of hockey left, and we’ve got a chance to finish this road trip strong with a couple wins.”

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