Penalty killing continues to overwhelm opposition

The power play may have stalled following their fiveday bye, but the Golden Knights’ penalty killing continues to run smoothly.

The Knights returned to action Saturday and were 0-for-6 with the man advantage. But they also killed three penalties in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

They’ve not allowed a power-play goal in 23 consecutive short-handed situations. The Knights are 13th in the NHL in penalty killing and last allowed a power-play goal on Dec. 19 to Tampa Bay in the first period of a 4-3 win at T-mobile Arena.

“When your PK is good, it starts with goaltending,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said Sunday after the team’s 40-minute practice at City National Arena. “We talk about special teams a lot. They can win you a lot of hockey games.”

Defenseman Brayden Mcnabb, a member of the penalty-killing unit, said its success is a combination of a lot of little things.

“It’s communication, it’s guys knowing each other’s habits,” Mcnabb said. “We know when we need to pressure, and our goalie is always our biggest penalty killer, whether it’s Flower (Marc-andre Fleury) or Malcolm (Subban).”

Eakin day off

Center Cody Eakin was the lone skater missing from Sunday’s practice. But Gallant said it was nothing serious.

“We gave him a maintenance day,” Gallant said of Eakin, who played 10:46 Saturday. “He’s just a little nicked up. We expect him back at practice (Monday).”

Looking to sweep

The Knights face the Nashville Predators on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena for the

final time this season and will be looking for the series sweep. The Knights won 4-3 in a shootout on Dec. 8 and 3-0 at T-mobile Arena on

Jan. 2.

The Predators (25-11-6) are second in the Central Division with 56 points, three behind Winnipeg and one in front of St. Louis. Nashville will also be coming off its bye week. The Predators last played Jan. 9 and defeated Edmonton 2-1.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj.