As forwards return to health, Golden Knights lineup finally taking shape

By Justin Emerson

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021 | 2 a.m.

The contributions from the Golden Knights’ Mattias Janmark, Nicolas Roy and Evgenii Dadonov on Sunday — two goals including the game-winner against the Calgary Flames — are an underrated part of what makes Vegas successful.

As Vegas lost top forward after top forward earlier in the season, players further down in the lineup needed to step into roles they weren’t initially pegged for. They performed admirably, but now that almost everyone is back, the lineup on Sunday was as complete it has been all year.

“That’s what we envisioned when we started the season, to have that type of depth where the third and fourth lines could really make a difference in the game and tilt the ice and create some mismatches,” coach Pete DeBoer said after Sunday’s game. “That’s the idea of how the roster was built out with some of the acquisitions and the depth we’ve got.

“Tonight was the first night probably since camp where we’ve had that type of feel on the bench where we could roll four lines and get that kind of production.”

The top-six entering the year was set: Max Pacioretty, Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone on the top unit; with Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith right behind. Janmark, Roy and Dadonov were all signed to play on Vegas’ third or fourth lines.

But in the second game of the season, Stone and Pacioretty were both hurt. Karlsson followed not long after and Marchessault had a stint out of the lineup while in the league’s COVID-19 protocols. Considering that Janmark missed opening night also in COVID protocol, Sunday was the first time that the nine players on the top three lines all appeared in the same game.

The trickle-down effect allowed Keegan Kolesar to shift down to the fourth line, where he, William Carrier and Michael Amadio turned in a quality performance.

“We’ve been saying it for years where the bottom-six kind of wins it for you in the playoffs,” Carrier said. “A lot of time you hear the fourth line just chipping and whacking, so we’re just trying to bring more offense.”

At this point, Vegas is missing just two regulars from its lineup to injury: forward Nolan Patrick and defenseman Alec Martinez. Once Patrick returns — and he’s been skating with the team, though DeBoer said he’s not close — likely Janmark or Roy shifts from the third line to the fourth, further bolstering Vegas’ forward depth.

Karlsson played for the first time in 15 games on Sunday, and it’s no coincidence that Vegas turned in a defensive performance against the first-place Flames that DeBoer called the team’s best of the season. They’ve been trending the right way for weeks, and the improvement on the ice is apparent.

Then there’s the Jack Eichel acquisition. The Golden Knights’ newly acquired star center has been skating on his own after undergoing neck surgery last month, and is expected to join the Golden Knights before Christmas to continue his rehab.

In the most ambitious timeline, Eichel is still months away from making his Golden Knights debut. But once he is healthy and ready to play, that adds another weapon to the Vegas offense that continues to add players from injured reserve almost weekly.

“It’s going to be pretty scary once he gets back,” defenseman Dylan Coghlan said. “It feels good to have guys like that come back into the lineup.”

Only four forwards have played every game, and of those only Smith and Stephenson are utilized in the regular top six. That level of man-games missed has the potential to torpedo a team’s playoff hopes, yet the Golden Knights kept their head above water, and remained entrenched in the Pacific Division race.

Throughout the early parts of the season, it was important to grade the Golden Knights’ success on a curve, considering they iced a forward group that sometimes resembled that of the AHL Silver Knights. As players have returned, so too have the results.

And as Coghlan says, that’s a scary thing going forward.