Game Preview/Lines #13: What Are Golden Knights NOT Good At?

A full month after the beginning of the NHL season, the San Jose Sharks will finally play a home game at SAP Center.

Their reward? Peter DeBoer’s return to SAP Center and a date with the vaunted Vegas Golden Knights.

San Jose Sharks (5-6-1)

(San Jose Hockey Now was at the Sharks’ first practice open to the media in San Jose yesterday – it looks like Kurtis Gabriel and Rudolfs Balcers will be getting a look)

Kane-Couture-Labanc

Balcers-Hertl-Meier

Nieto-Marleau-Donato

Gabriel-Gambrell-Sorensen

Ferraro-Burns

Simek-Karlsson

Knyzhov-Vlasic

Jones

Vegas Golden Knights (8-2-1)

(DeBoer said yesterday afternoon that he hadn’t decided yet if Robin Lehner and Shea Theodore were traveling with the team to San Jose; this was the Vegas line-up in their last game)

Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith

Tuch-Glass-Kolesar

Carrier-Roy-Reaves

Martinez-Pietrangelo

Hague-Whitecloud

Holden-Coghlan

Fleury

Where to Watch

Puck drop is 1:00 PM PT at SAP Center. Watch it on NBC Sports Bay Area, AT&T Sportsnet, or NHL.tv.

SPORTLOGiQ Pre-Game Stat of the Day

The question with the Golden Knights isn’t what they’re good at – that’s almost everything – but what they’re not good at.

Per SPORTLOGiQ, here are some Vegas weaknesses that the San Jose Sharks should look to exploit:

The Golden Knights block a lot of shots at 5-on-5 – 33.8 percent of Even Strength Opposition Shot Attempts – good for best in the NHL. But they’re just 20^th in both Limiting Shot Attempts from the Slot Off the Cycle and the Forecheck. Essentially, they appear to be susceptible to a strong forecheck and possession team that keeps firing down low, which is what the Sharks aspire to be – though San Jose is just 26^th in the league in Offensive Zone Possession Time right now.

Interestingly, Vegas isn’t as effective on the forecheck as you’d expect. They’re actually last in the NHL in ES OZ Dump-ins Recovered and 28^th in Forechecking Success %. Forechecking success means that the opposition doesn’t reach the neutral zone after the Golden Knights dump-in. However, they keep dumping it in: They dump the puck in 44.3 percent of the time at even strength, good for second in the league.

Concurrently, their defensemen aren’t great at recovering the other side’s dump-ins. They’re also last in the NHL in ES Defensive Zone Dump-In Recovery & Exits. So San Jose might have some success if they can get the puck behind the Vegas defenders – remember Theodore may sit – and hunt down pucks.