Thanks to a victory Wednesday over the worst team in the league that snapped a five-game losing streak, the Vegas Golden Knights head into Thursday night’s game with the Los Angeles Kings in Las Vegas assured of going into the Olympic break in first place in the Pacific Division.
The 5-2 win over Vancouver boosted the Golden Knights’ point total to 66, two more than the second-place Edmonton Oilers, and three in front of the third-place Seattle Kraken, both of whom don’t play again until Feb. 25.
Jack Eichel scored and set up a goal, captain Mark Stone notched two assists and Akira Schmid made 21 saves for the Golden Knights, who won for just the second time in nine games. The five-game losing streak matched the team’s longest of the season.
“We’re a veteran group, I don’t think we’re ever panicking, but it was an important one, especially going into the break here,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said of the win over a Vancouver team that lost for the 17th time in 19 games. “If we can piggyback (Thursday’s) game onto this one and play well again, and get the right result, I think we’ll feel a lot better about ourselves.”
“I don’t think by any means it was our best game, but we found a way to win, and that’s what matters,” Eichel said. “Come back tomorrow and play another game. That’s our focus now.”
Los Angeles, which lost to visiting Seattle, 4-2, on Wednesday, can close to within one point of the Kraken with a win. The Kings also enter the contest three points behind Anaheim for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that Los Angeles picked up winger Artemi Panarin in a trade with the New York Rangers for top prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round pick earlier Wednesday in a move to jumpstart an offense that ranks 30th in the league goals scored with 145.
The 34-year-old Panarin has 19 goals and 38 assists in 52 games, his 11th consecutive 50-point season. He has scored 321 goals to go with 606 assists in his career, including 49 goals and 120 points in the 2023-24 season.
“He’s an elite offensive producing machine with a high hockey IQ who does it year after year after year after year,” Los Angeles general manager Ken Holland said.
“One of the premier wingers in the league, has been for so many years, what a track record,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “He’s a one-shot shooter. He can find the back of the net, he doesn’t need a lot of looks.”
However, Panarin, who hasn’t played or practiced in a week, won’t join the Kings for practice until Feb. 18.
Los Angeles could have used him Wednesday against the Kraken. The Kings fell behind 3-1 in the first period and managed just a pair of power-play goals by Andrei Kuzmenko in the loss, the team’s third in four games.
“We did the best we could to come back in the game … but couldn’t get it done,” defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “It’s frustrating when you get behind like that early.”
This will be the third of four regular-season meetings between the two teams.
Los Angeles won the first one in a shootout, 6-5, on Oct. 8 in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights picked up a 3-2 win in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, with Stone scoring the game-winner 25 seconds into overtime.
