Golden Knights take big step in Pacific Division by winning at home again

By Justin Emerson

Sunday, Dec. 15, 2019 | 8:28 p.m.

The Golden Knights were nearly unbeatable at home in the initial two years of the their existence. They went 53-22-7 in two seasons, establishing T-Mobile Arena as hostile work environment for opposing teams.

The third year has been a bit of a struggle.

They won just seven of the first 16 at home, recording wins in back-to-back games just once in that stretch. That’s part of the reason why the Golden Knights, one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the season, are playing catch-up in the standings.

But things could be turning around. The Golden Knights walloped the Vancouver Canucks 6-3 Sunday night, one home game after beating Chicago 5-1. They’ve won two in a row at home — three of their last four – and are starting to feel good in their own barn again.

“When you get that high intensity at home with your fans and get the building rocking and get momentum on your side every time something good happens, it’s nice,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “We’ve got to make it tough for the other teams every time they come into our building here.”

It’s not just wanting the home crowd to be happy. Ask the players, and there’s an on-ice benefit to having a loud home crowd.

The audience wants to be entertained. They want to cheer. So when the home team scores early, it fires them up. When the home team scores two goals close to one another, it creates a wave of sound that demoralizes the opposition.

“When we get off to good starts in this rink, we can win games in the first five minutes,” forward Mark Stone said. “If we come out with a strong first five minutes, get our crowd energized, it puts teams on their heels and gives us a little extra energy.”

Vegas scored on its first shot Sunday, a Nick Holden offering from the point that weaved its way through traffic in the front of the net. It came 2:22 into the game, and though Vancouver scored to tie it 1:41 later, it put the math on the Golden Knights’ side. They are 11-2-0 when scoring first this year.

Then they played perhaps their best period of the season in the second. They outshot the Canucks 20-5 and scored their two goals within five minutes of each other. It essentially put the game away even with 30 minutes of action still to go.

“If you look at that second period, we get that 3-1 goal, the next five or six shifts are completely dominating, and then we’re able to get that fourth goal,” Stone said. “Once you kind of get the building alive, we feed off it.”

With Sunday’s home win, the Golden Knights leap-frogged Edmonton and Calgary in the Pacific Division to settle into second place, one point behind division-leading Arizona. It was their 18th win of the year, returning them to as many wins this season as losses (18-13-5) with another home game on tap Tuesday.

The Pacific doesn’t have a powerhouse team like some other divisions. That’s good for the Golden Knights, allowing them to bypass past some early-season struggles, particularly at home, and fight not just for a spot in the postseason, but a spot at the top of their own division.

There’s still a lot of season left, as the halfway point doesn’t come until next Friday. But if the Golden Knights are going to make a run, they’re going to need to beat Pacific Division teams and win at T-Mobile Arena. They did both on Sunday.

“It’s just good to get our mojo back and get some confidence,” Marchessault said. “Especially when it comes to playoffs and home-ice advantage, in a building like that it’s even more intimidating for the opponent so it’s on us to be great at home.”