4 takeaways from the Golden Knights’ longest road trip of season

It doesn’t matter how the Vegas Golden Knights did it. They still found a way to earn seven of eight points on their longest road trip of the season.

They would’ve preferred to score more, but they did everything else right to win all but one game on their four-game trip.

Now comes a five-game homestand, which starts Wednesday against the Utah Mammoth.

“We’re winning hockey games in different ways,” coach Ryan Craig said, “which is important.”

Here are four takeaways from the road trip:

1. Connelly continues climb

Trevor Connelly is becoming the story of the Knights’ season. It has reached the point he’s doing something every game that doesn’t just stand out. He’s making winning plays.

Connelly scored in the first three games of the trip, with all three goals coming in the third period. That included the game-winner Thursday in Detroit.

That goal came with Connelly on the top line, and it earned him a full-game run Sunday in Buffalo.

The Knights outshot the Sabres 13-11 with Connelly, Mark Stone and Jack Eichel on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick, and had a 6-3 edge in scoring chances.

How long that promotion lasts is too be determined. An argument can be made Connelly is better suited down the lineup for better balance.

Sometimes, you have to ride the hot hand until a change is needed. The 20-year-old has the hot hand.

“I think it’s just growing up in different situations,” Connelly said. “Those things get you prepared for these next levels. Just trusting my abilities and giving my best effort.”

2. Great goaltending

It can’t be undersold how good Adin Hill and Carter Hart were.

And yes, that has already been documented. But the Knights got an even four-game split with both goaltenders, and Hill and Hart more than held their own.

The Knights gave up six goals on the trip. Hart stopped 25 of 26 shots Thursday in Detroit, while Hill followed with 28 saves on 29 shots in Buffalo.

Hill finished the trip with a .944 save percentage, while Hart touted a .943. Both were at 1.50 goals-against or lower.

You could argue this was the first chance to see if one could separate himself from the other to be the Knights’ No. 1.

The Knights might need both throughout the year, but there needs to be separation at some point. So far, there is none, which is the best-case scenario for the team.

“It was a tough road trip here,” Hill said. “Finding a way to get seven out of eight points is huge. You’ll take that 10 times out of 10.”

3. Hertl power

One is on a heater if he scores 36 percent of his team’s goals in four games. That best describes Tomas Hertl with two multi-goal games on the trip.

Hertl had a point in each game to give him six. Two of them came on the power play — his goals against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Which means he did damage on the man advantage and at five-on-five.

His goals Sunday came with Buffalo appearing to get back into the game.

“It’s never easy to play on the road. It was a long trip. We were in Buffalo for three days,” Hertl said. “Everybody’s excited to get home.”

Hertl gets to go home with nine goals on the season, one shy of Stone for the team lead.

4. Defensemen not scoring

Perhaps much ado about nothing, considering the Knights’ scoring as a whole dried up on the trip. They would’ve liked to score more than 11 goals. But the Knights’ six defensemen combined for four assists and none of those goals

It’s not alarming, considering the Knights are finding ways to win games. But nearly one quarter of the way into the season, and Brayden McNabb still leads all defensemen with eight points.

Shea Theodore, Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin have six each.

Craig wants his defensemen up in the play more. Through 19 games, it hasn’t resulted in much scoring from the back end.

Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.