‘Hero’ Wanted: Knights need rescue from offensive decline in two straight losses

By Case Keefer (contact)

Tuesday, April 30, 2024 | 2 a.m.

Wyatt Johnston will not be denied.

The 20-year-old phenom has taken over the first-round playoff series between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights. The Stars’ forward is the primary reason why the Golden Knights have dropped back-to-back contests at home including a 4-2 loss in Game 4 Monday night to see their series advantage squandered.

The best-of-seven series now stands at 2-2 headed back to Dallas for Game 5 at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday evening.  

Elevated to the top line and rewarded with more minutes than any other forward by Dallas coach Pete DeBoer, Johnston generated a series-high 13 shots and three goals during his two-game stay at T-Mobile Arena.   

He’s given the Stars something the Golden Knights have sorely lacked — an unstoppable offensive force willingly putting his team’s fate on his own shoulders.

“It’s that time of the year where we have to find a way to have a hero,” Golden Knights wing Jonathan Marchessault said after Game 4. “In the playoffs, it’s all about being able to bring the best effort of 20 guys and also have that one line stepping up at the right time. Right now, we don’t have that.”

It’s a luxury the Golden Knights had throughout last year’s championship run, though the identity frequently changed. There was always one player, or group of players, who seemed to will the Golden Knights to scoring chances, and ultimately, goals when they needed it most.

Marchessault was the most powerful force down the stretch, the reason why he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the postseason. He picked up where he left off this regular season, finishing second in franchise history with 42 regular-season goals, and then scored in each of the Golden Knights’ first two playoff games against the Stars.

But Dallas has clamped down since falling behind 2-0 in the series, and refused to give Marchessault any clean looks near the net. That’s where Johnston is dominating.

His trio of goals have all come right around Vegas goalie Logan Thompson, including a power-play putback midway through the second period in Game 4.

Vegas had led for a total of 10 minutes before Johnston’s goal on Monday, but would never capture the lead again. The Golden Knights never really even came all that close for the rest of the game.

The Stars controlled the rest of the second period, getting another net-front goal from Ty Dellandrea that wound up the game-winner,  and then kept the Golden Knights outside and forced low-percentage shots in the third.  

“They’re putting everything to the net and you’re going to get some of those bounces,” Cassidy said of the Stars. “They scored two from the goal line tonight. That’s what happens when you funnel on some nights.”

The conventional statistics didn’t paint Vegas’ Game 4 performance as all that bad — it even led Dallas 34-32 in shots on goal — but the quality of chances comes across more by the advanced metrics.

Dallas had more than five expected goals per Natural Stat Trick — the second straight game they’ve hit that somewhat uncommonly-high bar. Vegas didn’t total five expected goals in the two games combined.

“The past few games, I think our offense has been lacking in being productive and being opportunistic,” Marchessault said. “I think it’s guys like me who need to lead the way. We’ve got to bring our best game next game.”

Marchessault shouldn’t be too hard on himself, because the Golden Knights have gotten much less from other players they rely on just as much as him.

Team captain Mark Stone’s struggles since returning from a lacerated spleen for the start of the playoffs worsened in Game 4. The Golden Knights’ expected goal share with Stone on the ice Monday was 17.46%, the lowest on the team.

It wasn’t only offense where the Golden Knights weren’t good enough.

Stone’s right-hand man in the leadership department, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, might have endured the worst night of all. He was far from the steadying force he’s been throughout a pair of Stanley Cup-winning runs, first with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and then with the Golden Knights last year.

Johnston’s goal came after the officials sent Pietrangelo to the penalty box for roughing. Dellandrea’s score came off a Pietrangelo turnover in the Golden Knights’ own zone right before the second intermission.

“At the end of the day, it’s on us to get to the second intermission at least 2-2,” Cassidy said. “Take a breath, understand you’ve played well with the exception of the end of the second (period) — and some of that was penalty-driven — and get back at it. That’s maturity with your team and we should be farther along than that.”

Cassidy’s big adjustment for Game 4 did prove to be a shrewd move. He inserted Michael Amadio into the lineup for the first time of the playoffs, benching Anthony Mantha, and got immediate results.

Amadio scored the game’s first goal with a rebound off a rush alongside Brett Howden. The third line of Amadio, Howden and William Karlsson was far and away Vegas’ most effective group in Game 4 — posting a 72.27% expected-goal share.

The Stars tied the score when former Golden Knight Evgenii Dadonov snuck in a puck off Thompson’s facemask from a shot taken slightly behind the net late in the first period. 

The Golden Knights regained the lead with an inspired start to the second period highlighted by center Jack Eichel kickstarting a breakout and then finishing with a rebounded goal off a Marchessault wrister that hit off the post.

Eichel is the player most likely to serve as Vegas’ “hero” going forward, and he’s looked the part for much of the series with a team-high three goals and six points. But he scored in the second period in each of the last two games and hasn’t been quite as consistent in the closing moments when it’s most important.

The Golden Knights, with their near-$100 million payroll, need someone to step up in those spots. The hope of their Stanley Cup defense lasting beyond the first round may depend on it.    

“We have a lot of gamers in that locker room,” Marchessault said.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or