Prior to the season, Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy wanted the Vegas Golden Knights to be one of, if not the best, defensive team in the Pacific Division.
Following the Golden Knights’ 3-0 victory against the Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena, Cassidy said the team is trending in the right direction to being that.
“Well, I’ll say defensively, in terms of our structure, I think it’s excellent,” Cassidy said. “It’s one of the reasons we’ve had a terrific month, and we’ve been pretty consistent with scoring goals for the most part. We’ve just cleaned up our defensive stuff to the point where we’re not forcing goalies to make a number of high-danger saves.”
The Golden Knights allowed 20 goals (1.81 goals against) in December, thanks to some stellar defensive play and goaltending. The team also does well on the offensive end, scoring 38 goals in 11 games (3.45 goals per game).
Some power rankings have the Golden Knights as the top team in the NHL. Vegas is at the top of the NHL with 53 points, tied with the Winnipeg Jets for most in the NHL. However, Vegas sits in first place due to points percentage – it has the same number of points as Winnipeg in fewer games.
Vegas plays the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, looking for their 11th win in December. An 11th would be the fifth time in franchise history that the team has won 11 games in a month.
Samsonov stellar in Golden Knights’ 3-0 victory against Flames
Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.
