How Golden Knights thrived on recent road trip

For the Golden Knights to survive and thrive on last week’s difficult road trip, their work in the defensive zone needed to be dialed in.

While they bent at times, the Knights rarely broke and finished 2-1-1 against four of the Eastern Conference’s top teams.

“I think the one thing we really wanted to focus on was defending,” center Brett Howden said. “The way we defended on this trip creates a lot of our offense and a lot of our chances. I just think that’s a big stepping-stone for us and something we want to carry on.”

The Knights have been inconsistent defensively this season, as injuries/illness and an adjustment to a new neutral-zone forecheck led to a high number of scoring chances allowed. Through 45 games, they rank in the bottom half of the league in goals against.

But defensemen Nic Hague and Zach Whitecloud returned from injuries on the trip and helped solidify the blue line. The Knights gave up 10 goals combined against Washington, Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay, and two of those were empty-net goals by Florida in its 4-1 victory.

“We played pretty connected the whole trip,” goaltender Robin Lehner said. “We know these four teams, they’re going to get chances. They had a bunch of chances, but I thought a lot of the good chances we played them well together. The goalie, the defensemen, the backcheckers. Just a little more synchronized.”

The Knights opened the trip by blanking Washington 1-0, even if it meant sacrificing a bit of offense to get the job done.

They suffocated Tampa Bay through the opening two periods Saturday, limiting the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion to 27 attempts and nine shots on goal before holding on to win 3-2 in a shootout that went seven rounds.

Florida, which owns the top offense in the Eastern Conference, was held to 21 scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. That’s tied for the second-fewest scoring chances by the Panthers since Dec. 12.

The only time the Knights got away from their defensive structure was the third period against Tampa Bay and Tuesday at Carolina on the second of back-to-back games.

“I don’t think we could play better than we did the first 40 minutes against (Tampa Bay),” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought detail was good, work ethic was good.”

While the defense was solid, the Knights have Lehner and backup goalie Laurent Brossoit to thank for much of their success on the trip.

The Knights allowed 8.76 expected goals at five-on-five during the four games and 56.1 percent of the scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick. But they outscored their opponents 6-4 at five-on-five, thanks to a .946 save percentage on scoring chances.

The Knights also capitalized on their high-danger chances at a higher rate. Despite producing 44.9 percent of the high-danger opportunities, the Knights had a .909 save percentage on those chances and outscored their opponents 4-3.

Defenseman Alec Martinez practiced with the Knights throughout the road trip and appears close to returning, which should further boost the defense.

“We limited their top guys to not a lot of opportunities,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “That’s a good sign stepping forward as we continue to get guys back in the lineup and guys are going to continue to play getting back from injuries.”

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