Golden Knights defenseman undergoes surgery, listed as week-to-week

The Golden Knights, as defending Stanley Cup champions and current Pacific-Division leaders, aren’t into moral victories.

Yet there was a definite sense of relief and accomplishment coming out of Tuesday night’s 5-4 shootout loss in Edmonton.

The scuffling offense scored four goals, including two in a late rally to tie the game. The Knights also came away with a point on the road for the second consecutive night after falling 2-1 in overtime Monday in Calgary to start the trip.

“It feels like more than just a single point,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Some of the things that were (going our way) earlier in the year are not now, but you’re still getting a point. So far we’re .500 on the trip and we’re going to Vancouver and we know we have more to give.”

The current road swing wraps up with a game at 7 p.m. Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

The vibes aren’t all good for the Knights, however.

The team announced Wednesday standout defenseman Shea Theodore had successful surgery for an upper-body injury and will be week-to-week.

He is not on the trip and has not played since a game in Dallas on Nov. 22. Theodore leads the Knights with 14 assists and has 18 points, twice as many as any other defenseman on the team.

The team discussed overcoming Theodore’s absence between the second and third periods Tuesday night when it trailed the Oilers 4-2 and needed a rally. Right wing Keegan Kolesar and defenseman Ben Hutton came through with third-period goals that secured a point for the Knights.

“I guess the main thing (we talked about) was we just need everyone to do a little bit more,” captain Mark Stone said. “We’re missing probably our best player this year right now, so everyone needs to step up a little bit. … These points matter and maybe when you’re not playing your best hockey, you have to keep banking points. We haven’t won a ton of games lately, but we’re finding ways to bank points whereas some teams struggle to do that.”

Cassidy is pleased with the resolve his team is showing.

“We are grinding points out,” he said. “Listen, we’d rather have wins. Some of these have not gone our way recently. They did earlier in the year. I think we won three shootouts in the first 12 games or whatever, so there’s a bit of a pendulum that swings the other way over time.”

The Knights hope the momentum of the late goals by Kolesar and Hutton, the first of the year for both, carries forward to the next few games.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.