Golden Knights feeling good after successful road trip: ‘A lot of good things’

It wasn’t the prettiest road trip the Golden Knights have had.

Four of their five games were decided by one goal. Three of them needed overtime. Three also required third-period comebacks to secure points.

The end result was earning nine of a possible 10 points on an East Coast swing. They’ll take that, no matter the results.

“A lot of close games,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Obviously, we’d like to extend leads better. That would be our next challenge, is when we do have a lead, see if we can get the next one and make it a little bit easier on ourselves.”

The Knights are back home for a one-game stint at T-Mobile Arena against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday before a back-to-back in Calgary and Edmonton this weekend.

The road trip started with a 3-0 win over the Devils on Dec. 5 with Akira Schmid posting a 24-save shutout.

It was a 1-0 game heading into the third, and the Knights needed two late power-play goals to establish that cushion.

Defensively, it was a sound trip for the Knights with the exception of the 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday. They also got the goaltending between Schmid and Carter Hart to win the kinds of low-scoring games on the road.

Schmid allowed two goals in two starts, while Hart — in his first road trip with the team — made three starts and had crucial stretches in each one.

“A lot of good things,” Cassidy said.

The Knights needed last-minute goals against the New York Rangers and Islanders to force overtime, then needed an overtime winner from captain Mark Stone to ensure they left Philadelphia on Thursday with two points.

“It tells me we can defend because we’re obviously giving up less,” Cassidy said. “For a coach, especially for our identity and what I’d like to see, I think is awesome.”

They also went 4-0-1 by scoring 16 goals in those five games. Two of them needed the game-winner to reach the three-goal mark.

Cassidy’s assessment of that was simple.

“If we continue to defend, it is (sustainable),” he said. “If we don’t defend, it won’t be.”

The Knights had 12 different goal scorers. Five of them were defensemen. The only one not to find the back of the net was Kaedan Korczak, but he had two assists.

Defensemen combined for seven goals through the first 27 games. They had five in the last five games.

“The backend’s getting hot here,” said Brayden McNabb, who scored the game-winning goal Saturday in Columbus. “You always love when the D scores.”

McNabb said that kind of trip can build confidence. The Knights are in first place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand on the Anaheim Ducks.

“I think you’re just trying to build your game,” McNabb said. “We’re 30-something games in and that’s where the consistency starts to come together.

“You’re always trying to perfect your game and make sure your game is in the right spot, and it’s trending towards that.”

Lauzon returns, Dorofeyev skates

Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon was a noncontact participant in practice Monday after missing the last month with an undisclosed injury.

The hard-hitting blue liner hasn’t played since Nov. 15 after leaving in the second period against the St. Louis Blues.

Lauzon is nearing a return, but whether he stakes a claim to a spot in the lineup is unclear. Ben Hutton has four goals and six points in the 14 games since Lauzon went down.

Right wing Pavel Dorofeyev was a full participant at practice after missing the third period Saturday with an undisclosed ailment.

Dorofeyev, after going 10 games without a goal, has two in his last three.

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