Golden Knights searching for win, accountability at end of road trip

There’s a silver lining for those who think the sky is falling for the Golden Knights.

It could be a situation like the Raiders, who are looking for their sixth coach since relocating to Las Vegas in 2020.

The Knights are in a bit of a free fall, losing eight of their past nine and going winless on their father’s trip for the first time after losing 3-2 in overtime to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

The Knights can still right the ship when they cap their three-game trip Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets.

The Knights aren’t in panic mode, but they’re in that precarious spot of trying to balance panic with urgency. They have 14 more games in January with two back-to-backs sprinkled in.

“You don’t want to get down on each other, but you also want to hold each other to a high standard, a high accountability,” captain Mark Stone said.

Division is getting tight

Tuesday will mark the halfway mark for the Knights (17-11-12). Fortunately for them, no team has broken out of the jumbled mess that is the Pacific Division.

The Knights are tied for first place in points — with two games in hand — with the Edmonton Oilers. But the top seven teams are separated by six points.

Room for error is getting smaller, with Cassidy putting it bluntly Sunday, “enough’s enough.”

“I think the accountability issue, usually, it always starts at the top,” Cassidy said. “Any locker room that holds itself accountable will go miles farther than a coach barking at a guy or maybe sitting him for a bit, sitting him for a game, whatever. It’s one another in there.

“The accountability part, they have to sort of challenge themselves a little more.”

There is frustration, as defenseman Zach Whitecloud pointed out Saturday. There’s a question for the love of the game, as Cassidy wondered after the Knights generated only 15 shots against a Chicago team that was playing the second night of a back-to-back.

Even if the Knights didn’t feel as if they gave up much defensively, they still gave up the tying goal and the Blackhawks generated a push that they had no answer for.

“It’s hard to explain,” Stone said. “The shots were (19-15) going into overtime against a team on a back-to-back. We got to try to push to get the next goal, and we weren’t able to do it.”

Not generating enough

The Knights aren’t normally hemmed in the offensive zone the way they have been. Sunday was the second time in four games they’ve been held to fewer than 20 shots.

They’ve gone over 30 just once in the past six games.

The volume isn’t there, and neither is puck possession. Opponents have dominated the shot attempt department. The Knights have registered a Corsi of less than 50 percent in five of the past six games at five-on-five.

The only game during which they controlled play was New Year’s Eve against Nashville (44-34), but that was after the Knights pushed back after allowing four consecutive goals.

“I don’t think it’s one specific thing,” forward Brandon Saad said. “Just making more plays and generating more chances. I just feel like it’s kind of playing pingpong out there, not really having a lot of o-zone time and possession.”

The Knights have long preached of playing as a cohesive five-man group in all three areas of the ice. Stone said that hasn’t been the case.

“We’re not executing our breakouts. We’re not playing fast,” Stone said. “Just not getting those opportunities. Usually, we’re a 30-, 35-shot team with getting lots of scoring chances and grade-A chances. It just looks like we’re not getting those.”

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