It’s easy to judge the Vegas Golden Knights’ second line off the base numbers and think it’s not performing up to standard.
That would be a disservice to what Mitch Marner, Brett Howden and William Karlsson have done together.
And sure, maybe there were expectations that those three would pick up where they left off in the playoffs. The results haven’t been there just yet, with the three combining for eight points.
It hasn’t been for a lack of trying. The line has created chances and generated efficient offense while taking care of their own zone. It just hasn’t resulted in points.
“They’ve done a lot of good things,” coach Ryan Craig said.
It’s no shock the line has been an analytical darling. In 61 minutes, 36 seconds together at 5 on 5, they have outshot opponents (29-23), have the edge in scoring chances (33-27) and high-danger chances (9-8), according to Natural Stat Trick.
The eye-popping number is expected goals. Marner, Karlsson and Howden have generated chances to the tune of 3.15 expected goals, while giving up 1.82.
But the defensive-first line has been outscored 3-2 in actual goals. They were on the ice for two goals against Thursday against Toronto. Neither were the unit’s fault, but it’s the horribly byproduct of the horrible plus/minus metric.
They made up for it in the second period. Karlsson took a stretch pass out of a breakout, dropped it to Marner while Karlsson drove to the net.
Howden streaked toward the backdoor, and Marner made a picture-perfect pass for Howden to score his first goal of the season.
“It’s a great play by everyone there,” Marner said. “I’m just trying to put it in an area for one of them to get a piece of it.”
Tuesday’s game against Seattle was arguably their worst of the season. The Knights were outshot 7-2 when they were on the ice but didn’t give up a goal.
“I think if you were to ask them, they weren’t particularly pleased with their game in Seattle,” Craig said. “The previous three games, they felt like they were generating a lot.”
They responded with the goal Thursday, then combining for seven scoring chances Saturday against the Kings while holding Los Angeles to three while on the ice.
They’ve done everything asked of them offensively and have looked as dangerous as they were in the playoffs. The only difference is it hasn’t resulted in the kind of numbers that Jack Eichel (12 points) and Mark Stone (seven points) have generated.
Maybe it’s a sign of things to come. Craig feels the floodgates will open sooner or later.
“The message to them is to stay with it,” Craig said. “Everything gets magnified at the start of the year. When you look at the stat sheet four games in, that’s what happens.
“If this is January and they’re going through something like that, we’re probably not talking about it.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
Up next
Who: Golden Knights at Wild
When: 5 p.m. Monday
Where: Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul, Minnesota
TV: KMCC-34
Streaming: KnightTime+
Radio: KVGS 107.9 FM
Line: Wild -120; total 6
