Before their season was halted due to COVID-19 protocols, the Vegas Golden Knights were off to a strong start during which the team won five of its first seven games.
Vegas stood first in the Honda West Division before it had three games postponed when members of the team and coaching staff entered the league's virus protocols. Since then, other teams have passed the Golden Knights in the standings, but Vegas will have opportunities to regain that ground in the standings.
As the team prepares to hit the ice Friday against the Los Angeles Kings, it's time to take inventory of the Honda West Division and see where each team stands.
St. Louis Blues - VGK Television Play-By-Play Broadcaster Dave Goucher
The Blues are still looking for consistency with some key departures in the off-season and a high-scoring winger Vladimir Tarasenko still on the sidelines. They're hoping Mike Hoffman can fill some of the void and Torey Krug can log some of Alex Pietrangelo's minutes, but breakdowns defensively have cost them at times early this year. St. Louis has put together a start good enough for first place at this stage and took their only matchup against the VGK.
Colorado Avalanche - VGK Television Color Analyst Shane Hnidy
Many have the Avs as a favorite to reach the Stanley Cup Final and with good reason. They have an elite deep group of forwards led by Nathan MacKinnon (14 points) and Mikko Rantanen (7 goals) along with last year's Calder Trophy winner Cale Makar on the blueline who had 50 points in 57 games. Makar has picked up where he left off with 11 points in 10 games this season. There were three things that were question marks for the Avalanche coming into the season: depth scoring, goaltending and health. The addition of Brandon Saad and a healthy Joonas Donskoi have provided depth along with Nazem Kadri, Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky. Philipp Grubauer has been great early on with a .930 save percentage. If Colorado can stay healthy, they are a dangerous team with speed, skill and depth up front and a solid group of D with a couple of young dynamics d-men. Colorado may be the toughest road for the Knights to cross to get out of the division.
Minnesota Wild - VGK Radio Play-By-Play Broadcaster Dan D'Uva
Minnesota has been an average team since Vegas entered the NHL in 2017. In that timeframe the Wild's .562 points percentage ranks 18th in the league. They haven't won a playoff series in six years. However, in eight games against Vegas the Wild are 6-1-1, an .813 points percentage. That's their best mark against any team in their history. No team has beaten Vegas in regulation more often - six times. How?
One culprit is offense. At 1.75 goals per game, no team scores less often against Minnesota than Vegas. Is it the goalie? Devan Dubnyk (4-0-1 against Vegas) is gone (now in San Jose) and has been replaced by former Oiler and Flame Cam Talbot (3-3-0 career against Vegas). This and other changes are happening in St. Paul.
Bill Guerin is in his second season as general manager and Dean Evason is in his first full campaign as head coach, the first time in those roles for each man at the NHL level. Will a new organizational trajectory correspond with continued success against Vegas? To find out, we'll see as many Vegas-Minnesota matchups this season as we have the last three years combined.
Vegas Golden Knights - VGK Insider Gary Lawless
Great goaltending has underpinned an excellent start to the Golden Knights' season. Marc-Andre Fleury has been among the best in the NHL to start the campaign.
The Vegas line of Chandler Stephenson, Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone was an even strength monster prior to its season being interrupted due to Covid 19 protocol outscoring opponents 8-2 in 75 minutes of 5v5.
The Golden Knights have been strong killing penalties but it's a different story on the power play as the club has operated at an 11.5 percent success ratio which is ranked 27th in the league.
The next big story for the Golden Knights is can they pick up where they left off? A 5-1-1 mark prior to the pause has them hanging around the top of the NHL is points and points percentage.
Los Angeles Kings - VGK Studio Host Daren Millard
Better, faster, refreshed. That's the 2021 Los Angeles Kings. Coming up on seven years removed from winning the Stanley Cup, the franchise has found a more comfortable place between turning the page and being competitive. Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter have looked great, Drew Doughty has swagger, while the goaltending is more consistent. The ability for the next wave of players is where the Kings fortune will be told this year. How quickly can that top talent go from chipping-in to carrying offensive responsibility. Gabe Vilardi, Kale Clague, Mikey Anderson and Lias Andersson, along with Blake Lizotte and Andreas Athanasiou must push the old guard if LA is going to be relevant to the playoff chase in the season's second half.
Of note, the reverse retro sweaters that the Kings are wearing make my heart sing. Home Run on a 3-2 count.
Anaheim Ducks - VGK Rinkside Reporter Stormy Buonantony
The VGK opened up the new-look season with consecutive exciting wins against the Ducks.
Mark Stone scored the eventual game-winner in the 5-2 season opening win to complete a story-book night for his first game as Captain of the VGK.
Then in game two, Vegas trailed 1-0 until the final minute and a half, when William Karlsson tied the game and forced OT. Max Pacioretty would go on to win it for the VGK seven seconds into extra hockey and dropped a glorious "Annexation of Puerto Rico" Little Giants reference in the postgame press conference.
Also, of note, while six different Golden Knights players stuck a puck in the back of the net over those first two games, Max Comtois was the only Anaheim player to beat a VGK goalie.
All three of his goals on the season were scored in those two games.
Arizona Coyotes - VGK Studio Analyst Mike McKenna
It's the same old story for the Arizona Coyotes: they can't score. It's been years since the Coyotes have had any real firepower and the dearth of offense has bled over to this season. Phil Kessel has four goals on the campaign and Jakob Chychrun has blossomed into an offensive threat from the blueline but scoring remains a major concern. With Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson missing all but two games due to injury, only Chychrun has been able to fill the void offensively from the back end. Seven of nine Coyotes defenders have two points or less. That's not good enough in today's NHL.
Defensively, the Coyotes remain stout, ranking seventh-best in shots allowed per game (28.1) and ninth in goals against average (2.63). Darcy Kuemper has been a rock in goal, starting seven of eight games. While his numbers look somewhat pedestrian so far - currently a .910 SV% compared to last season's .928 SV% - the former Minnesota Wild 6th rounder has played his best hockey of late, allowing only six goals against in his last four starts.
The Coyotes currently sit seventh in the Honda West division with seven points. For Arizona to improve, they're going to need more than the 2.5 goals per game they're currently averaging. Defense and goaltending aren't a worry and having Ekman-Larsson back in the lineup would help. But they need more from everyone.
San Jose Sharks - VegasGoldenKnights.com Gordon Weigers
The San Jose Sharks occupy the basement of the Honda West Division through eight games, but the team has found itself in less-than-ideal circumstances. The Sharks have been unable to play at home due to limits on contact sports in Santa Clara County. Thus, San Jose has taken its show on the road where the team has posted a 3-5-0 record through eight contests. The Sharks were slated to play their first "home" game of the season as they would have worn their home uniforms against the Golden Knights on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3, but the teams would be playing at Gila River Arena in Arizona. With those games postponed, the Sharks await a weekend back-to-back with the Anaheim Ducks.
Tomas Hertl leads the team in scoring with seven points (3G, 4A) in eight games. Logan Couture and Ryan Donato also have three goals apiece. Offseason acquisition Devan Dubnyk has lost each game he's appeared in for the Sharks while Martin Jones has posted a 3-2-0 record in the San Jose net.
February 03, 2021 at 05:02AM
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Western Roundup: Checking on the Honda West Division - NHL.com
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