Golden Knights enjoy rare break ahead of pivotal stretch run

By Justin Emerson

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 | 2 a.m.

The Golden Knights didn’t practice Monday. They didn’t the day before either, and don’t play again until Wednesday.

Vegas is enjoying a rare break in a pandemic-afflicted season where games have so often been clustered together. Since they beat the Ducks on Saturday until they play the Avalanche Wednesday night, the three days between games is the team’s longest in more than two months.

They’ll happily take the time to recover before the final stretch of games leading to the playoffs.

“It’s exhausting,” forward Chandler Stephenson said. “It’s been a very draining season physically and mentally. To be in the position that we’re in is nice, to have clinched a (playoff) spot already. I think everybody is looking forward to those games being rescheduled and getting some time off here and time away to just relax and kind of recharge the engines.

“I think we’ll just take advantage of the Vegas weather.”

The start to the season was sporadic, as a coach testing positive for COVID-19 coupled with virus issues on other teams led to a 10-day break just two weeks into the season. Their other long layoff — four days between games in late February — was because a Sharks player tested positive for the virus and the game was postponed.

All the postponements meant the games had to be made up at some point, and that happened in the last two months. The Golden Knights played 30 games between Feb. 27 and April 24 — a span of 57 days, or a little less than a game every other day. There were six sets of back-to-backs in that stretch, and just twice did Vegas have more than one day off between games.

The current break is again because of the virus. The Avalanche had issues leading to some schedule-juggling that moved Vegas games, but the Golden Knights don’t seem to mind.

“I think it’s good for the boys,” defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “Everyone knows how important those days are for a lot of guys to disconnect and get away and relax and obviously spend time with their families and everything like that.”

It has been quite a stretch. The Golden Knights are riding a franchise-record nine-game winning streak during which they clinched a playoff spot and overtook Colorado for the top spot in the West Division. With a small lead over the Avalanche, Vegas’ regular season fight is not done, as the battle for the division crown could run up until the last days of the season.

And the rest of the season is just as compact as the previous two months, necessitating rest during the current break. The Golden Knights’ final nine games will come in a span of 15 days, which includes two back-to-backs and two games against the Avalanche before the regular season finale on May 12.

There’s no set date for the playoffs to begin, but don’t count on an extended break. It’s possible the current three days between games is the longest layoff the Golden Knights will see the rest of the year. 

Stephenson said he’s going to kick back and enjoy the sunshine. William Karlsson said his sister came to town and he’s looking forward to spending some time with her and her family.

The days off between games are rare this season. The Golden Knights are going to make sure they make the most of them.

“We’re really welcoming the opportunity to rest,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think our guys have really emptied the tank here the last three, four weeks trying to get back in the race for first. That’s taken a toll, both injury- and energy-wise. We’re going to use the break to hopefully get those things back in a better place than they are today.”