Golden Knights vs Oilers: Pacific race tightens Sunday

The Golden Knights are back home Sunday, but the standings picture has changed around them.

Vegas enters its matchup with Edmonton at 29-20-14, one point behind Anaheim for first place in the Pacific and five points ahead of the Oilers. That makes Sunday’s game feel bigger than a typical March meeting, especially with the division packed tight behind the Ducks.

Standings get tight

The Golden Knights have spent too much of the past two weeks playing from behind. They opened the post-Olympic stretch by scoring five times in Los Angeles, but the games since have followed a shakier pattern. Vegas has had enough good minutes to stay in games, but not enough clean starts to stay out of trouble.

Bruce Cassidy said the issue is not that the Golden Knights are terrible for 60 minutes. It is that they have not handled the short stretches when games turn.

“We had a low for three minutes yesterday,” Cassidy said after Saturday’s practice. “We didn’t get through it.”

Putting out fires

That idea is at the center of Sunday’s matchup. Cassidy described it as failing to “put out fires” after one mistake becomes two. A missed puck play, a failed clear, or a bad decision in transition has too often turned into a rush chance or a goal against.

“No team makes the right play every time,” Cassidy said. “Putting out the fires for us has been a challenge.”

That is a dangerous habit against Edmonton. Few teams punish mistakes faster. Connor McDavid leads the Oilers with 106 points, Leon Draisaitl has 91, and Edmonton still owns the NHL’s top power play at 33.1 percent. If Vegas feeds the Oilers transition chances or lets broken plays snowball, it can get ugly in a hurry.

The Golden Knights already saw that in the first meeting, a 4-3 loss on Dec. 21.