Bruce Cassidy on Why the Golden Knights are Struggling at Home

The NHL's best away team, the Vegas Golden Knights, cannot seem to carry their success over to their home arena.

With their 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, Vegas is now .500 at home, an issue that Coach Bruce Cassidy believes starts with puck management.

"A couple of guys in the bottom of their lineup finished some plays in the second period," Cassidy told reporters after the loss. "I think the first-period goal by [Anders] Lee -- I mean, we lose a board battle, sorting out coverage we were like half a second behind. It doesn't take that long for him to finish So you got to give him credit there, but the other ones, I think we could've been better A: managing the puck. And you need saves at times during the game, right? If the other guy's making them. 

"So that part of the game I thought was fine for us the second and third period in terms of how we need to play against the New York Islanders. You got to -- they clog up the neutral zone, you got to take what's there, and we were willing to do that, but not early on. And at home, that's been our problem is that we're trying to make plays against every team that comes in here early in the game, and they're ready to play, and it's not working out. It's what we do well on the road to home teams is we check well, get pucks back and take advantage of our opportunities. So that's the mindset that I've got to get across to these guys at home."

The Golden Knights have three more opportunities at home this coming week to right their wrongs and finish with a strong and successful homestand before the new year.

It starts with a matchup against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Vegas defeated Buffalo last month when star forward Jack Eichel scored a hat trick in his return to KeyBank Center.