Golden Knights open long homestand against Utah in 1st-round rematch

The fear for any team, including the Vegas Golden Knights, is the letdown for the first home game after a long, successful road trip.

These aren’t fears that will be said out loud. Combine that with this being the first time the Knights have played the Utah Mammoth since last season’s epic first-round matchup, and there’s “trap game” written all over it.

The Knights (12-5-2) return home after earning seven of a possible eight points during their four-game road trip to the East Coast.

They open a season-long, five-game homestand on Wednesday against the upstart Mammoth. It’s the first time in an official capacity the Knights are hosting the Mammoth since their six-game victory in the playoffs.

“Definitely a back-and-forth series,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “They’re a great team. A lot of young skill that can make you pay on mistakes. We’re going to have to be ready.”

The Knights checked plenty of boxes over the four games. Chief among them was the play of their goaltenders. Adin Hill and Carter Hart combined to allow six goals through the four games.

Utah (10-7-1) holds the ninth-best scoring offense in the NHL, led by captain Clayton Keller’s 24 points and a team-high 11 goals from top center Logan Cooley.

The 22-year-old had two goals in three points in that first-round series, which was the first in Utah’s short history.

“High energy. Lots of skill,” coach Ryan Craig said. “That’s what I expect tomorrow night.”

The Knights didn’t get out of the trip unscathed. They lost defenseman Noah Hanifin to an upper-body injury suffered in the third period Sunday in Buffalo, and is week-to-week.

Defenseman Parker Wotherspoon is likely to return after missing the past month with an upper-body injury. Wotherspoon was a full-contact participant at practice Tuesday.

He skated with Dylan Coghlan in Hanifin’s place. Rasmus Andersson skated with Jeremy Lauzon, an indication that pairing will get back together.

“We want to just keep it rolling,” forward Brett Howden said. “I thought as the road trip went on, we got better. Our team game got better. A more consistent game.

“That’s something we want to bring back on this homestand is a little more consistency.”

Theodore said the reason the Knights had so much success was sticking with the program. He pointed to them not checking well enough in certain games before the trip.

Collectively, they did a better job of that, in large part to the special teams. The Knights went 14-of-15 on the penalty kill. The lone goal was during a five-minute major Monday against Boston.

The Knights averaged 7 minutes, 25 seconds of short-handed ice time during the trip, good for third-best in the league.

“Just sticking to the process and not worrying about the results,” Theodore said.

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

Up next

Who: Mammoth at Golden Knights

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: T-Mobile Arena

TV: TNT, truTV, HBO Max

Radio: KVGS 107.9 FM/KOAS 105.7 FM (Spanish):