Knights happy to be home as ‘hectic’ schedule continues

The Golden Knights were happy to be home for a change Sunday after spending most of the last month on the road.

They’re even more pleased to be staying for a bit.

The Knights’ 5-4 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday marked the start of a four-game homestand, the team’s longest of the season thus far.

The defending Stanley Cup champions’ schedule has been a grind. The Knights (19-5-5) are tied for the second-most games played in the NHL at 29, behind only Columbus (30). Their 15 road games are tied for the third-most. The travel hasn’t been easy, either.

The Knights have done a long swing out east and also been to Canada three different times. All that moving around has seemed to wear on them at points.

The Knights struggled through some stretches of Sunday’s game after a quick turnaround. They won 6-1 in Dallas on Saturday, then flew home for another game a little more than 24 hours later.

“You would obviously like some time,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “It’s always tough when you’re on a time change and over there for a bit and come home, especially on a back-to-back. But we’re playing good hockey right now so it’s good to rack up the wins in a short span. It will be good to get some rest, though. We get to Christmas and the schedule opens up a little bit.”

The Knights are still a few weeks away from things easing up. They know they have business to take care of beforehand, starting with a game against the Calgary Flames (11-13-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena.

The Knights wrap up their homestand by playing Buffalo on Friday and Ottawa on Sunday. Then they’re back on the road again to take on Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida next week.

“We’ve been playing a lot of hockey and the schedule has been hectic for all of us,” center Jack Eichel said.

The positive for the Knights is they’re accumulating points. They’ve won three straight and have an eight-game point streak. That hot stretch has the Knights six points up on second-place Vancouver for the lead in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference.

That means they should be able to enjoy their downtime when it comes later in the season and rest up for a playoff push.

“You just want to find ways to win and get two points,” Eichel said. “We’ve been doing that and it’s good to see.”

Eichel, who has a seven-game point streak of his own, is one player who doesn’t appear to need the rest. His scorching stretch has given him a team-high 32 points this season, six more than any other player.

Eichel, despite the groove he’s in, is still excited to get a few days at home.

“It’s great,” Eichel said. “It feels like we’ve been on the road for quite a while. We’ve had a few games here, but not too many. So take advantage of a little home cooking and sleeping in your own bed and spending time with your family. Obviously, it’s the holidays. But we’ve got a couple of games this week we’ve got to take care of, so it’s nice to be home.”

The Knights may even be able to get in a rare practice at City National Arena with all this time at home, though they got a much-needed day off Monday.

They will skate Tuesday morning before hosting the Flames. Goaltender Logan Thompson, a Calgary, Alberta native, is expected to be back in net after goaltender Jiri Patera made his season debut Sunday.

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