Knights penalty kill providing boost: ‘You can kind of get that swagger’

In a perfect world, the Golden Knights would like to excel in both special teams phases.

Their power play has slumped since captain Mark Stone suffered a wrist injury Oct. 18 against the Calgary Flames. But their penalty kill has made up for it by turning into one of the NHL’s best units in recent weeks.

“Certainly got a lot better the last few weeks,” center Colton Sissons said. “Once you kind of build a couple (kills) under your belt and a couple in a row, you can kind of get that swagger and confidence coming over the boards that it doesn’t matter what power play you’re looking at. You’re gonna get the job done.”

Flipping the script

The Knights’ penalty kill struggled out of the gate, allowing four goals in the team’s first five games.

It’s been a different story since. The Knights have killed 18 of the last 20 power plays they’ve faced.

“I think (it’s about) sticking to what we do best and not letting other teams dictate what we’re going to do,” defenseman Zach Whitecloud said.

Coach Bruce Cassidy said the Knights wanted to be more aggressive in disrupting offensive zone entries this season.

The team studied its performance last year, when it finished with the NHL’s seventh-worst penalty kill at 75.7 percent. The Knights thought they defended the middle of the ice well, but didn’t recover enough pucks to get clears.

Cassidy didn’t want to overhaul the team’s system. Instead, he reinforced details, like when to apply pressure.

“That’s allowed us to have better sticks through the seams,” Cassidy said. “There’s still the occasional (pass) that gets us. That’s going to happen when you play good teams.”

More bodies

One thing that’s helped the Knights this season is having more options on the penalty kill.

Twelve skaters played short-handed during Tuesday’s 1-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Seven of them were on the ice for at least a minute.

Two new contributors are Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, who were part of the trade that sent defenseman Nic Hague to the Nashville Predators this offseason. Sissons has been asked to take a lot of short-handed faceoffs, even though he’s still getting used to the Knights’ structure.

“It’s quite a bit different than what I did last year,” Sissons said. “The more reps I got throughout camp, the more comfortable I felt.”

Having extra penalty killers available helps the Knights spread out the workload. The team also doesn’t ask its skaters to play short-handed too often.

The Knights have taken 40 penalties this season, the fourth-fewest in the NHL.

Staying out of the box

The Knights have seen how a strong penalty kill can break a team’s spirit.

They experienced that firsthand in their 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, when they finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage.

The Knights are 2-for-20 on the power play in their last six games.

“That’s what happened against Colorado,” Cassidy said. “Now our guys aren’t feeling it, so it leaks a little at five-on-five sometimes. It probably shouldn’t, but that’s just I think normal behavior for the skill guys.”

The Knights hope their penalty kill can continue to demoralize opponents moving forward. They’ll face a huge test Thursday when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena.

The Lightning are only 28th in the NHL on the power play to start this season (13.6 percent), but their top unit boasts stars like right wing Nikita Kucherov, center Brayden Point and defenseman Victor Hedman.

“We know the usual suspects out there,” Sissons said.

The Knights killed all five of Tampa Bay’s power plays in a 2-1 overtime loss on Oct. 26. They may need a similar type of performance to win Thursday.

“Another big challenge (Thursday),” Whitecloud said. “They’re lethal. You can’t give them good looks and opportunities. They’re bound to capitalize.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.