‘It’s not easy’: Knights looking for help with centers injured

The Golden Knights are using every capable forward they have available to try their luck at center.

It’s all hands on deck at the moment with the Knights down two centers in Jack Eichel (illness) and William Karlsson (lower body).

Karlsson is still week to week with no time frame on when he’ll even return to the ice.

Eichel missed his first game of the season Wednesday in a 2-1 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils. He took part in practice Tuesday before leaving halfway through the session.

The Knights managed to secure a point with Eichel and defenseman Shea Theodore (upper body) unavailable.

It’s unclear how severe both are. The Knights didn’t practice Thursday, but will practice Friday before flying to Calgary for a back-to-back starting Saturday against the Flames. They will play at Edmonton on Sunday.

Staying afloat without Karlsson and Eichel

They’ve stayed the course with Karlsson out. Losing Eichel doesn’t just mean the Knights lose their leading scorer. It’s another option to take faceoffs.

And to not have anyone play out of position.

Eight players took a draw Wednesday. Center Tomas Hertl took 18, and Brett Howden had 17. Both finished over 50 percent.

Colton Sissons, normally reliable in that department, went 3-for-10.

Reilly Smith played third-line center with Eichel out, going 0-for-5. Mitch Marner had to take two draws in the third period while playing makeshift center.

Left wings Ivan Barbashev and Cole Reinhardt took, and lost, one each.

The Knights finished 24-of-55 (44 percent).

But with Eichel out, coach Bruce Cassidy said, it starts with getting pucks back early in the game.

“We can’t change our game in December because Jack’s out,” Cassidy said. “What we can change is our forecheck mentality early. … The other guys, they have to understand it’s a work in progress that teams have lots of gas in the tank, so they’re up, their gaps are good, you got to play behind them and loosen the gap so maybe you can build the rush game if it doesn’t come from a good d-zone or turnover.”

Playing out of position

It’s not uncommon for a number of players to take faceoffs. Centers getting kicked out of the circle for trying to take the draw too early get replaced by a winger.

But the lack of depth down the middle has forced the Knights to make adjustments. Smith moving to the middle, after years of playing on the wing, was a start.

It was a way for Cassidy to get Smith back into the lineup after alternating games with left wing Brandon Saad. Not an ideal way to play in Smith’s eyes, but one nonetheless.

But Cassidy was stretched in trying to find a spark Wednesday. The Knights were shut out for nearly 56 minutes before Pavel Dorofeyev’s game-tying goal with 4:10 left.

Marner centered a line with Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev to begin the third. On one hand, Marner’s defensive ability can at least help on a line not known for that side of the ice.

But it can take away from Marner’s offense, which is better used along the walls to where he can survey the entire zone.

Cassidy said that line was more offensive-driven with the Knights down a goal heading into the third period.

“I think I said Mitch could play left (defenseman), so he might before the year’s over,” Cassidy said, jokingly. “He’s a smart guy. He understands our system.

“Our guys play down low in practice. At training camp, start of the year stuff, they get reps down there as the low forward. They’ve been down there. It’s just not a repetitive action for them.”

Not the problem

The Knights couldn’t solve Devils goaltender Jake Allen, who finished with 36 saves.

“It’s not easy,” Hertl said. “We played some (of the) lines on the road trip. You got key guys, (Theodore) and Jack out, so we kind of mixed the lines.

“We’re missing two centers, so it’s not easy. I think in the third, every line brought something. We had great looks. Their goalie made some great saves.”

Cassidy said he didn’t think having the wingers play out of position was an issue. They’ve been receptive to it each time he’s asked them, knowing the situation.

“Those are good players,” Cassidy said. “Until it hurts us, we’ll keep looking in-house here to do it.

“I don’t think that was why we didn’t get the extra point.”

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