One of the biggest blows the Vegas Golden Knights had suffered prior to the All-Star break was the injury of defenseman Shea Theodore.
Theodore's lower-body injury put him out of the lineup for 20 games, missing almost two months of play.
Since returning, though, the veteran defenseman has been solid, especially as of late.
In Vegas' win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, Theodore finished with a goal and two assists for three points.
"It's offense," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy told the media after the game. "It allows us to get out of our end cleaner. We're a little more dangerous in the offensive zone. He's got to be accounted for. I know he'll be on the pre-scout for their team a lot. And he can just manufacture stuff out of nothing, right? So those are special players, and every team needs them. Especially when you have some on the back end, it makes you dangerous.
But I thought him and Nabber [Brayden McNabb], Pietro [Alex Pietrangelo] and Marty [Alec Martinez] were outstanding for us all night. Marty, like I said, unfortunately had one go over the glass. That's tough luck for him. But they blocked a lot of shots, they defended very good top-six players all night and I can't say enough good things about their game tonight that -- them having that playoff mindset, too, as veteran guys [who] probably took that as a challenge, right?"
Theodore's fellow defenseman Zach Whitecloud was also out of the lineup due to injury for quite a while. His return after the All-Star break has certainly helped fuel what has been a five-game win streak for Vegas.
"They both came back and played really well," said McNabb. "It's huge. We've had this six for -- I don't know how many -- two years for sure. But we're comfortable and any one of our pairings can go out and play against top lines, so that's the beauty of it. So yeah, it's huge, it just helps with our depth."
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