The slumping Vegas Golden Knights start their last homestand earlier than the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off after they host the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Each groups enter the competition one level out of first place of their respective divisions.
The Golden Knights, losers of 5 of their previous six video games (1-4-1), fell out of the highest spot within the Pacific Division on Saturday when the Edmonton Oilers leapfrogged them with a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Florida moved to inside one level of Atlantic Division-leading Toronto after cruising to a 7-2 victory at San Jose on Saturday.
Vegas completed a two-game street back-to-back with a 4-3 loss at Dallas on Friday.
Jack Eichel, who scored two targets versus the Stars to spice up his level complete to 61, stays on tempo for the primary 100-point season of his profession.
Eichel, nevertheless, was flustered after seeing his staff give up three targets within the second interval at Dallas.
“It is irritating,” Eichel mentioned. “We’re discovering ourselves within the shedding column a bit of an excessive amount of recently and we do not need this to proceed to go the way in which that it is going. Each evening is a troublesome sport, and nobody is letting us off the hook, it is bought to come back from throughout the group. We all know now we have it in right here, we simply need to get again to doing it.”
That could be simpler mentioned than finished. Other than Sunday’s sport, the homestand additionally features a rematch with Dallas on Tuesday and a contest with the stunning Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
“I believe we have finished sufficient speaking about it,” Eichel mentioned. “It has been a couple of weeks now that we have been struggling. It is only a dedication to competing and doing the appropriate issues and the need to win. We all know now we have it in right here. It is nearly grabbing it and doing it.”
That is the ultimate contest of a four-game western street journey for Florida.
The Panthers break up a Southern California back-to-back to start the trek, profitable at Anaheim, 5-2, on Tuesday after which dropping a 2-1 resolution to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Florida then bounced again with the lopsided win at San Jose on Saturday evening.
Matthew Tkachuk collected a objective and two assists and defenseman Aaron Ekblad had one in all every in his return from lacking seven video games with an upper-body damage versus the Sharks.
“We’re in place now to have a very good street journey,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice mentioned.
It will not be straightforward. It is going to be the second sport briefly order for Florida, which additionally needed to fly from San Jose to Las Vegas after the win over the Sharks.
“Tomorrow is coming fast,” Tkachuk mentioned. “… We journey tonight to Vegas and can play lower than 24 hours from the beginning of tonight. It’ll be a troublesome back-to-back.”
This would be the second of two regular-season conferences between the 2 groups. Florida received the primary one, 4-3, in Dawn, Fla., on Oct. 19 after Gustav Forsling scored a objective 4:43 into additional time.
–Discipline Degree Media