Knights’ Cody Eakin raises level of play when stakes are highest

Eight seconds remained, and the faceoff was deep in the Golden Knights’ end.

The Los Angeles Kings were desperately trying to extend their season and tie Game 4 of the opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

Vegas coach Gerard Gallant had no lack of options to take that critical faceoff. He opted for Cody Eakin. The third-line center had played well during the series. Now he had one job to do: beat Jeff Carter on the draw.

The puck was dropped. Eakin won it, getting the puck back to his defense. Moments later, he was in the handshake line and the Knights were moving on after sweeping L.A. with a 1-0 win.

“He has raised his game,” Gallant said of Eakin. “He has played better. He’s competitive. He has scored goals at key times. He wins faceoffs. All the things I’m seeing now are the things I expect from Cody Eakin and he expects from himself.”

As the Knights prepare for round two against the San Jose Sharks, Eakin knows he will play a pivotal role, whether it’s winning faceoffs, killing penalties or helping his line create offense.

“It feels good,” Eakin said of his performance against the Kings. “You want to contribute any way you can. It could be something big like scoring a goal or something small like just finishing off a check or winning a faceoff.”

Eakin struggled offensively at times during the regular season, but the 26-year-old from Winnipeg finished with 11 goals and 16 assists in 80 games while averaging 14:32 a game in ice time. His best offensive performance came March 8, when he had a pair of goals and an assist in the Knights’ 4-0 win over Detroit.

He scored his fourth career playoff goal early in the third period in Game 3 to pull the Knights even. They would go on to win that game 3-2.

“I thought we did a good job after the second period of Game 3,” he said. “Tempers were running high, and we took a deep breath. We were in good shape down just 1-0, and we were able to maintain our level heads.

“These are big games, and this is when it’s fun and you should be enjoying it.”

Eakin said his formula for success in the first round was his skating.

“I relied on my legs and skated as hard as I could,” he said. “You want to be consistent.”

Eakin had several players skate with him during the regular season. That was also the case in the first round of the playoffs. Tomas Tatar was on the left side for the first two games. Then it was David Perron, who returned to the lineup for Game 3. For Eakin, who played with Perron and James Neal the first month of the season before Erik Haula became the center for that line, the rotating lineup was not a problem.

“It wasn’t any major adjustment,” he said. “Both guys played well. I think the first couple of shifts for Dave (in Game 3), he was getting his feeling back, getting his timing back. We talked about just keeping things simple, get the puck on his stick and do the right things.”

The one constant for Eakin has been right wing Ryan Carpenter, who has skated on Eakin’s line for the last six weeks.

“He’s very consistent and very smart,” Eakin said of Carpenter. “Wherever I throw the puck, there he is. He’s a low-risk player who always seems to be in the right spots. So it’s nice to have someone like that on the line with you.”

Eakin faced some talented centers against the Kings. He’ll face a similar challenge against the Sharks, who have Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney and are expected to have Joe Thornton back.

“It’s going to be fast, two teams that can skate going hard,” Eakin said of the series with the Sharks. “Their power play is lethal, so we need to stay out of the box. Pavelski is very crafty. He’s good at getting his stick on pucks, so we have to make sure he doesn’t get lost and tie up his stick.”

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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.