Golden Knights again control their own playoff destiny

DENVER — The Golden Knights were in limbo most of Tuesday, waiting to find out whether they would clinch a playoff berth.

Now they control their own destiny once again.

Arizona held on for a 1-0 victory over Chicago, preventing the Knights from locking up a spot in the postseason.

The Knights (42-28-6, 90 points) will seal their place with a victory or overtime/shootout loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday at Pepsi Center.

Coincidentally, the Knights earned the first playoff berth in franchise history on March 26, 2018, but missed out exactly a year later.

The Coyotes improved to 81 points with five games remaining and can reach a maximum of 91 points. The Knights own the tiebreaker by virtue of having more regulation/overtime victories than Arizona.

The Knights had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a point in St. Louis on Monday but were dealt a 3-1 setback against the Blues.

With no control over the situation, coach Gerard Gallant was left with a detached view of Tuesday night’s Blackhawks-Coyotes game.

“I don’t care what they do, honestly,” Gallant said following the team’s afternoon practice at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena. “If that happens, then that’s great. If not, then we’ll take care of our own business (Wednesday) night, hopefully.”

In addition to their postseason berth, the Knights can set their sights on trying to catch second-place San Jose.

The Sharks have a five-point lead in the Pacific Division standings, and the Knights visit San Jose (43-24-9, 95 points) on Saturday.

“We know how hard just the last six games of the regular season are going to be and how hard playoffs potentially are going to be, so we don’t really look too far ahead,” center Paul Stastny said. “For us it’s just about staying focused, playing that same way and then staying healthy.”

Down five

The Knights were missing five regulars at practice, including defenseman Shea Theodore and wing Tomas Nosek.

Theodore was scratched for Monday’s game at St. Louis when he didn’t feel well after waking up from an afternoon nap, according to Gallant.

Nosek was given a maintenance day Tuesday to help heal the injury that kept him out of the game at Calgary on March 10.

“They’re minor maintenance things and we want to take care of them,” Gallant said. “There’s nothing major there. If the opportunity is right to take a guy out because we don’t want it to be a two-week injury, that’s all we’re doing. We’re not really resting guys. But we’re making sure people are going to be healthy.”

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (lower body), left wing Max Pacioretty (lower body) and left wing Brandon Pirri (lower body) did not join the team in Denver.

Center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who was scratched the past three games, was a full participant at practice once again.

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.