The Vegas Golden Knights don’t believe they need to “grip it and rip it.”
“We are not a high volume shot team,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said.
Putting up 31 shots-on-goal per game in the regular season, the Golden Knight were in the middle of the pick in that statistical category. The Golden Knights don’t fret too much about shots as long as they are getting some Grade A chances and they are playing well.
But it does make fans a bit nervous that Vegas only had 15 shots on goal in Monday’s 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal. Vegas totaled only seven shots on goal over the last 40 minutes of the contest.
Cassidy isn’t concerned because they generated enough goals to score four times, including twice on the power play. He thought the Golden Knights defended well.
“I thought we played the right way and stuck with it,” Cassidy said.
Good Chemistry
It also helped that Vegas goalie Logan Thompson (26 saves, 29 shots, .897 save percentage) had a better night than Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger (11 saves, 15 shots, .767 save percentage).
This was the first time Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl played together, and Cassidy liked their chemistry. It’s a small sample size, but each player scored a power play goal.
Hertl was acquired from the San Jose Sharks before the trade deadline. He has bolstered the team’s power play. The Czech forward is big and boasts quick hands
“He is a natural net front presence,” Cassidy said. “He showed that tonight.”
But Cassidy does believe the Golden Knights will need to be better five-on-five going forward.
“(But) we do need to increase our offensive output,” Cassidy said. “… Going forward that will be a point of emphasis. How can we create a little bit more against a team that does a great job with it.”
Said Cassidy: “We are not going to get too, too worried, to over-analyze the shot clock total. It’s more (about) chances, were they good chances?.. There is a lot that goes into it, not just the shot clock.
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