Knights look to revitalize for Round 2
Sweeping Kings gives players time to rest, recharge
When the Golden Knights had their mandatory bye week in January, several players spent the time off relaxing in Cabo San Lucas.
That’s not going to happen on this break.
“This is not like the bye week where they have five days off and they’re not skating and they’re not training,” general manager George Mcphee said Wednesday at City National Arena. “We’re not going to Mexico.”
Fresh off a four-game sweep of Los Angeles, the Knights will play the
San Jose Sharks in the second round.
San Jose swept the Anaheim Ducks, winning Game 4 on Wednesday night 2-1.
The Knights must wait for the remaining first-round series to finish before their Western Conference semifinals against San Jose can begin and could be off for another week.
Three Eastern Conference series and the Minnesota-winnipeg series, which is 3-1 in favor of Winnipeg, have Game 7s scheduled for April
25.
“Personally, I think this will be good for us,” Mcphee said. “We’re finally getting healthy for the first time in what feels like six months. So we’re getting there. … We’re going to be practicing and training and working on our structure and systems and everything.”
The Knights nearly are at full strength, with defenseman Luca Sbisa the only unavailable player. The team had Wednesday off, and during his media availability, Mcphee revealed multiple players battled injuries in the final month of the season.
“We were banged up far more than anyone will know,” he said. “We were really thin down the stretch.”
The Knights received world-class goaltending from Marc-andre Fleury to win four one-goal games against the Kings and withstood the physical pounding from Los Angeles thanks to their depth.
Coach Gerard Gallant opted for speedy William Carrier on the fourth line over enforcer Ryan Reaves, and Carrier set the tone in Game 1 with 10 hits.
Forward David Perron returned after missing the final six games of the regular season along with Games 1 and 2 against Los Angeles.
“This time of year, guys are banged up, as you know, on our team,” Gallant said after Tuesday’s 1-0 victory to close out the Kings. “We’re getting guys back and they’re getting close to coming back. So, I think that the layoff doesn’t hurt us.
“We’ll have some time to prepare and get our players ready and get some rest. Like I said, this time of year, guys get ready to play and they’ll be battling.”
The Knights handled their extended schedule breaks well during the regular season.
They won four straight after the holiday break as part of their record eight-game win streak. Following the bye week — and the trip to Mexico — the Knights lost two straight before recovering to win the next four.
And they went 4-2 on the road coming out of the All-star break at the end of January.
“We’ve got to look at the next game and be able to cash in the rest that we’re going to have here and be ready when the second round is going to start,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said Tuesday. “Rest is always good. Especially at this time of the year, a few days off is going to be good for us mentally and be able to have some good practice in.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @ Davidschoenlvrj on Twitter.