Golden Knights confident they can run the table, create path to the postseason

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Golden Knights loss to New Jersey Monday night is being looked at as one of the worst results of the season, after being unable to earn any points on home ice against the 27th ranked Devils.

The 3-2 loss was Vegas’ second straight and third defeat in their last four games. Monday night proved to be a huge gut punch to a franchise on the verge of missing the postseason for the first time.

“I really believe we can win out, that’s what we got to do, that’s got to be our goal and I think if we do that I don’t know if we’ll need help,” said Golden Knights Head Coach Pete DeBoer. “What’s that put us at, 97 points? Hard to believe it’s going to take 97 points to make the playoffs, but that’s reality. We’ve strung together five, six, seven wins before here. We’re as close to healthy as we’ve been all year. Yeah, we’ve got tough opponents, but I think last night showed, there is no easy opponents this time of year. One game at a time, but we know what we got to do and it’s on us to get it done.”

The Golden Knights franchise has never been on the outside of the playoff picture this late in the regular season, but the players on the roster and the coaches behind the bench have, which is why the group feels confident they can run the table.

“We know we can win five games, but it’s not going to be easy, we’re going to play some really tough teams,” said Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty. “We have to find our on-ice chemistry as a unit of five because that seems to be, in my opinion, the difference between scoring goals or not. I keep mentioning make that extra play, but it’s also knowing where other guys are on the ice are going to be, make sure we bail each other out when we put each other in tough positions, and we have to find that tomorrow.”

VGK players said this current stretch is a playoff atmosphere.

“We’re in playoffs right now for us,” said Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb. “You get in playoffs and there is no margin for error, you know when mistakes happen, they go in your net. We know that we have veteran guys, guys who have won, great leadership. That’s part of the game and part of our job. Our job is to go win five games, it starts tomorrow and go from there.”

Coach Pete DeBoer’s message to players is stay the course on what we can control.

“We’ve got a veteran group, we get it,” explained DeBoer. “The message is we can’t waste any energy right now on missed opportunities over the last week. We have to look forward at the task at hand and get excited about showing everybody that we’re capable of doing this.”