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December Knights Notes of Note

Posted on by Tom Urtz Jr.
  • The month of December has concluded, and it is time for the next installment of Knights Notes of Note.
  • For those who missed November’s, you can find that here, but I will also give a brief synopsis again for those who don’t feel like opening in a new tab.
  • In addition to writing here at Knights on Ice, I also provide coverage on the New York Rangers at Blueshirt Banter. A format that I’ve used there for some reaction stories, that I’ve unabashedly stolen from my managing editor Joe, is bullet point notes.
  • I figured that it would be a good idea, and thus Knights Notes of Note was born.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights went 8-6-1 in the month of December and captured 17 of a possible 30 points that were up for grabs. It was an up and down month that featured 5 overtime games, 4 of which the team emerged victorious.
  • Additionally, Vegas scored 46 goals which was 14th-best in the league, and allowed 47 which puts them 20th overall. When you factor the two numbers, the Golden Knights had a GF% of 49.46 per Natural Stat Trick which was 16th-best in the league. All in all it was a pretty average month, and part of that was some underwhelming 5v5 play that was bailed out by a strong performance on special teams.
  • The Golden Knights killed it in terms of special teams, relative to November, as they went 14 of 41 (34.1%) on the power play, while going 33 of 41 on the penalty kill (80.04%). Vegas also scored first in 8 games, and their opponents drew first blood in the 7 remaining contests.
  • Logan Thompson drew the lion’s share of work appearing in 11 games, and had a bit of a rough month going 5-5-1 with a .905 save percentage and a 2.92 goals against average.
  • In the remaining games Adin Hill went 3-1-0 with a .891 save percentage and a 2.84 goals against average which represents an improvement from the previous month./
  • Chandler Stephenson had a big month for the team as he stepped up to hold down the No. 1 center position with Jack Eichel on IR. Stephenson posted a line of 4-16-20 in 15 games played to lead the team in points for the month. Reilly Smith led the team in goals scored with 8, and captain Mark Stone was right behind him with 7 goals.
  • Michael Amadio also had a big month after getting some extra playing time due to injuries that impacted Vegas, and he finished the month with a line of 4-4-8 in 11 games played./

  • Daniil Miromanov also stepped up on defense while Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore were out of the lineup, and had a respectable line of 2-4-6 in 14 games, with all of his points being primary.
  • In terms of underlying numbers, players worth mentioning also include Ben Hutton who was solid defensively by posting a GA/60 of 1.98, an xGF% of 59.78, and a CF% of 50.2 in 9 games played per Evolving-Hockey.
  • Brayden Pachal was decent in a 6 game sample, and his line includes a CF% of 52.42, an xGF% of 57.95, and a GA/60 of 1.31.
  • Nic Hague was also very solid, and he drove play with a CF% of 52.13 while also finishing with an xGF% of 55.88 in 15 games played.
  • December was a bit of a bumpy month, but the Golden Knights were able to get through it while missing some key players for many of the games played. They are still near the top of the Western Conference with the Dallas Stars, and appear to be on the mend.
  • January offers another opportunity to get back on track, and they have gotten off to a good start with wins over the Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins./

Stats via Evolving-Hockey and Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.

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