Powerless Play: Golden Knights’ Lethal Weapon Now Glaring Weakness

Two weeks ago, a Vegas Golden Knights power play opportunity was almost a sure thing. Their power play, 9-for-24 with a 37.5% success rate, was second in the league. 

And then it all came crashing down. Mark Stone, the top unit’s not-so-secret weapon, was placed on LTIR after suffering an injury against the Calgary Flames. 

With all of the firepower throughout their lineup, you’d think the Golden Knights could survive losing Stone. So far, you would be wrong. Since October 19th, the Golden Knights have gone 2-for-19 on the power play. Their 37.5% success rate on the man advantage has fallen to 25.6%. 

Their power play struggles have sealed their fate several times in the five games without their captain. On Friday, they went 1-for-6 on the man advantage en route to a 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. 

“Sometimes, it’s not about scoring goals, but getting momentum, and we gave them momentum against us. We chased the puck and gave up chances on our power play,” said Tomáš Hertl after Friday’s loss. “I don’t know how many; we had five, six today. Normally, we don’t have that many. We have to put at least one or two in. That’s the tough part.”

“We knew [the Avalanche] had a good penalty kill coming into the game,” said Ben Hutton on Friday. “But at the same time, we know our power play is deadly when it’s on. I think we were off a little bit tonight, which didn’t help. You always want to win the special teams battle. 

“I think [it was also due to] low execution,” continued Hutton. “I think we were gripping the stick a little bit too tight, and trying to force it when things weren’t going right.”

Stone’s absence changes the power play’s structure

When healthy, the Golden Knights’ power play runs through Mark Stone. He’s recorded the primary assist on six power play goals this season, and scored one by stuffing it in the net himself.

Eichel to Stone to Dorofeyev. Before Stone went down, the Golden Knights scored four power play goals just like that. They also scored an additional one where Tomáš Hertl stuffed in the rebound after that exact setup.

Because Stone is week-to-week, there’s no telling when he’ll return to the lineup. Head coach Bruce Cassidy tried to plug Mitch Marner into Stone’s spot below the goal line because they’re both right sticks. It didn’t work.

“We had a plan in place last year, and this year, we were going to run it off the right side, and that involved Jack [Eichel] and Stoney. They had good chemistry,” said Cassidy after Friday’s loss to the Avalanche. “They found the open man over there. So, replacing Stoney over there, we’ve used Mitch because he’s a right stick, but I don’t know how much he’s played there.” 

Marner is an insanely skilled player, but he doesn’t bring the size or strength that makes Stone so deadly in front of the net. If the opposing penalty kill takes away Hertl or Dorofeyev as passing options, Stone will just do it himself. If that’s in Marner’s wheelhouse, he hasn’t yet shown it; thus, the opposing penalty kill doesn’t respect him as a scoring threat.

The Golden Knights know they’ll have to dig deep and find a way to get their power play working again.

“We did it last year,” said Tomáš Hertl on Friday. “When someone went out, we still produced. We have enough skill.”

Depth players can help alleviate pressure from the power play

Two weeks ago, the Golden Knights could get by without much– or any– depth scoring. Their top players were producing at 5-on-5, but they were dominating on the power play.

Jack Eichel and Mark Stone were tied for the league lead in power play points with eight. Pavel Dorofeyev’s four power play goals were tied for the league lead.

The Golden Knights’ power play kept them in games they had no business being in. Sometimes, it singlehandedly stole a point. Other times, it was the lone reason they won games. Even though they weren’t playing up to their standards, they sat atop the Pacific Division and were the fourth team in the league.

When the power play was on, it helped cover for a bottom-six struggling to put the puck in the back of the net. Now, the lack of depth scoring is coming to light.

Last season, the Golden Knights succeeded in part because of their depth scoring. Brett Howden scored 23 goals and recorded 40 points. Keegan Kolesar recorded 30 points. Reilly Smith and Brandon Saad both averaged just under half a point per game. 

That’s not the case this year. Smith has a goal and an assist in 11 games; Saad has just one assist. Colton Sissons has one assist in nine games. Alexander Holtz, who earned a contract after entering training camp on a PTO, has yet to record a point.

The Golden Knights lost three 30-point players in Nicolas Roy, Victor Olofsson, and Tanner Pearson. Sissons has been steady defensively, but he hasn’t shown the offensive upside that Roy offered. 

It might take the top unit another few games to get going. Getting depth scoring would help take some of the pressure off that top unit.