Golden Knights get to rest from NHL rescheduling their games
The rarest of sights took place Friday at City National Arena: a Golden Knights practice.
The Knights, for the first time since March 25 and the second time since Feb. 27, have two consecutive days between games. They defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Wednesday and play the Anaheim Ducks at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The team’s compact schedule meant coach Pete DeBoer had almost no mandatory skates on days between games over the past month. So getting to run through their breakout, neutral zone forecheck and power-play drills during a 30-minute session Friday was a luxury.
“(We) don’t know what to do with ourselves,” DeBoer said. “It’s funny just planning a practice, even though it’s a short one, because it’s our first two-day gap in a while. I don’t think we’ve totally recovered from what we’ve gone through, so we kept practice short. But just having a practice, being able to do some of those drills that you haven’t done in a month is nice.”
The pace of the Knights’ schedule has been unrelenting over the past two months.
They played 17 games in March and have already played 12 in April. DeBoer admitted the team was “on fumes” Monday against San Jose.
The good news for the Knights is things will lighten up considerably the rest of the regular season. They were actually scheduled to play the Sharks again Friday but the game was postponed twice to May 12. The Knights also had their scheduled Monday game against Colorado postponed to May 10 because of the Avalanche’s recent COVID-19 pause.
That means the Knights will have three consecutive days off after playing Anaheim. It’ll be a rare stretch when the team can catch its breath before gearing up for the end of the regular season and start of the postseason.
“It’s actually a really nice treat,” center Chandler Stephenson said. “Any extra time you can get off is really important. If you have a little ache or pain or something, it gives it that little extra time to heal.”
Injury updates
Right wings Reilly Smith (undisclosed), Ryan Reaves (undisclosed) and Keegan Kolesar (hip) didn’t practice Friday due to injuries.
Smith has missed the past two games. Kolesar and Reaves have sat out the last six. Reaves is on long-term injured reserve.
DeBoer said Smith was “improving” and said he’s not worried about his status long term.
“I think he’s getting really close to getting back with us here,” DeBoer said.
Pride night
The Knights will host their annual Pride night Wednesday.
Players will be able to use rainbow tape on their sticks for warmups before their game against the Avalanche. They will be auctioned off and the proceeds will benefit You Can Play, a campaign dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.
The team will also have special merchandise for sale. The proceeds will benefit the Vegas Golden Knights foundation, and a portion will be donated to the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
