Golden Knights Exit Interview: Eichel, McNabb Looking for Answers 

On Friday, the Vegas Golden Knights held exit interviews for select players. It’s been two days since the Edmonton Oilers eliminated them from the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the players, the loss still stings.

“Can’t fault the guys on effort,” said Jack Eichel. “I think we competed hard. Everyone really left it out there. It’s unfortunate that it’s over. But only one team goes home happy at the end of the year, and everyone else is looking for answers on how to win. We’re going to reassess it and figure out what we can do better to be the last team.”

Despite scoring the fifth-most goals in the league during the regular season, the Golden Knights ended their season with 127 scoreless minutes against the Edmonton Oilers. 

“It’s tighter checking, everyone’s more willing to block shots, everyone’s more responsible defensively,” said Eichel. “It’s tougher to score goals in the playoffs, for sure. It’s a bounce here and there; it’s a play here and there. It’s finishing an opportunity, and we just weren’t able to do it at the end of the day. It’s unfortunate to get shut out two games in a row. Collectively, as a group, we need to find a way to produce that time of year and score goals.”

Read More: ‘Wasted Season’; Golden Knights’ Campaign Ends in Heartbreak

Brayden McNabb, who left Game 2 with an injury, spoke on playing through pain. 

“[I was] definitely banged up, for sure, definitely close to not playing. But a lot of guys go through stuff,” said McNabb. “You play if you can, and I was able to play. You do what you can at that time of year.”

Despite the pain of the loss still being fresh, McNabb reflected on what went wrong.

“The margin for error is really small. You need some bounces,” said McNabb. “Overtime games helped us in Series 1, and they didn’t go our way in Series 2. Did we play our absolute best in the playoffs? At times, we did, but consistently, maybe not. It’s disappointing. You want to be playing, especially with the group we had.

“It’s the smallest things that go a long way in a playoff series,” continued McNabb. “Being more consistent throughout each game is important. The margin for error is not much. If we win those overtime games, maybe we’re up in the series or going to play Game 6. Just the little details– playoff time is the best time of year, but it’s tough. It’s hard to win; it hurts to win. It’s a grind.”

Read More: 4 Reasons Promising Golden Knights Fizzled Out in Second Round

Jack Eichel spoke about the emotions he and the other players experienced after being eliminated.

“When the playoffs start, your expectation is that you’re going to be the last team standing. When the season comes to an abrupt stop, there’s a few days of a lot of emotions,” said Eichel.

“You’re feeling a bit empty. You don’t really know what to do– we’ve been coming to the rink every day since the beginning of September, training, preparing, working to try and achieve an ultimate goal that we all have in common. When that doesn’t happen, you’re left thinking, ‘What did we do wrong?’

“As time goes on, you can decompress a little more,” Eichel continued. “ You look back at the season and understand the things you would like to have done differently, but at the same time, be proud of some of the things that we accomplished as a team this year… We were one of the final eight teams in the league, but at the end of the day, we didn’t achieve what we wanted to do. 

“It’s definitely tough,” Eichel finished. “It’s tough to sit here today and not be still playing.”

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