The slumping Vegas Golden Knights begin their final homestand before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off when they host the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Both teams enter the contest one point out of first place in their respective divisions.
The Golden Knights, losers of five of their past six games (1-4-1), fell out of the top spot in the Pacific Division on Saturday when the Edmonton Oilers leapfrogged them with a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Florida moved to within one point of Atlantic Division-leading Toronto after cruising to a 7-2 victory at San Jose on Saturday.
Vegas finished a two-game road back-to-back with a 4-3 loss at Dallas on Friday.
Jack Eichel, who scored two goals versus the Stars to boost his point total to 61, remains on pace for the first 100-point season of his career.
Eichel, however, was flustered after seeing his team surrender three goals in the second period at Dallas.
“It’s frustrating,” Eichel said. “We’re finding ourselves in the losing column a little too much lately and we don’t want this to continue to go the way that it’s going. Every night is a tough game, and no one is letting us off the hook, it’s got to come from within the group. We know we have it in here, we just have to get back to doing it.”
That might be easier said than done. Aside from Sunday’s game, the homestand also includes a rematch with Dallas on Tuesday and a contest with the surprising Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
“I think we’ve done enough talking about it,” Eichel said. “It’s been a few weeks now that we’ve been struggling. It’s just a commitment to competing and doing the right things and the will to win. We know we have it in here. It’s just about grabbing it and doing it.”
This is the final contest of a four-game western road trip for Florida.
The Panthers split a Southern California back-to-back to begin the trek, winning at Anaheim, 5-2, on Tuesday and then dropping a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Florida then bounced back with the lopsided win at San Jose on Saturday night.
Matthew Tkachuk collected a goal and two assists and defenseman Aaron Ekblad had one of each in his return from missing seven games with an upper-body injury versus the Sharks.
“We’re in position now to have a really good road trip,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
It won’t be easy. It will be the second game in short order for Florida, which also had to fly from San Jose to Las Vegas after the win over the Sharks.
“Tomorrow is coming quick,” Tkachuk said. “… We travel tonight to Vegas and will play less than 24 hours from the start of tonight. It’s going to be a tough back-to-back.”
This will be the second of two regular-season meetings between the two teams. Florida won the first one, 4-3, in Sunrise, Fla., on Oct. 19 after Gustav Forsling scored a goal 4:43 into overtime.
–Field Level Media
