LAS VEGAS – Given the circumstances of the 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Vegas Golden Knights tried to spark their offense with a bit of switch-up.
Aside from pulling goalie Adin Hill after giving up the fourth goal on 21 shots, Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy changed around his forward lines.
Cassidy swapped forward Nicolas Roy back to the fourth-line center alongside Cole Schwindt and Jonas Rondbjerg. Keegan Kolesar joined William Karlsson and Tanner Pearson on the third line, while Alexander Holtz moved onto the top line alongside Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev.
“[The Hurricanes] roll over four lines,” Cassidy said. “If I’d have a Nic in the middle, maybe back to our four-line approach, it would be better.”
Ultimately, it comes down to who can play alongside Eichel, the team’s star center.
The Golden Knights captain, Mark Stone, plays on Eichel’s right wing. Vegas attempted to put Roy at that spot but went to Holtz in an attempt to get the offense going against the Hurricanes.
Stone, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, will likely go back to that spot once he returns.
Regardless, it wasn’t the first or the last time Cassidy will switch up lines in an attempt to spark some offense.
The question always is: Will the lines he went to against the Hurricanes be the same ones line in time for Wednesday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks?
Cassidy talks to the players following those types of shakeups, trying to gauge how the players feel about who they play alongside.
Whether or not the line combinations remain that way is up to a couple of factors. The first is whether the players fit in their roles, and the second is do the lines have chemistry.
“I don’t know that any of them will stick,” Cassidy said.
Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.
