VAN +103 o5.5
BOS -114 u5.5
UTAH -125 o6.0
MON +113 u6.0
Vegas 4th Pacific45-29-6-2
Calgary 5th Pacific38-39-1-4
SN1, SCRIPPS, TVAS, SNW

Vegas @ Calgary preview

Scotiabank Saddledome

Last Meeting ( Mar 23, 2023 ) Vegas 3, Calgary 2

The defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights are sitting atop the Western Conference, but their perch has become rocky.

Heading into Monday's road clash with the Calgary Flames, the Golden Knights are on a 3-5-1 skid and coming off a 2-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.

A step back was to be expected after starting the season with an 11-0-1 record, but this has been a massive swing.

"We didn't finish well obviously early on. We had some good looks," coach Bruce Cassidy said of his team's latest setback. "Opportunities in power play, we were casual. Didn't execute well enough where we could have helped ourselves offensively. Right now, we're not scoring five-on-five, so power play could help you build some momentum."

His squad failed to convert on five power-play chances against the Coyotes, just part of the equation as to why the Golden Knights are struggling.

Suddenly goal-scoring has become an issue, too. Vegas, which returned home for the Arizona game in between a five-game trip out east and now a three-game trek to Western Canada, has been held to two or fewer goals in six of the past nine games and has been blanked on three occasions.

The Golden Knights have been shut out twice in three outings.

"Sometimes you have to come back more to basics," forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "When I go through slumps, I have to go to the net and get some goals there. There's a lot of pucks, loose change there, at times, and those goals are easier than opening up for the one-timer."

The Flames return home after Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, which ended a four-game road swing on which they won twice and lost twice.

Calgary had a chance to jump into a wild-card position, but fell short despite heavily outplaying the Central Division-leading Avalanche for much of the game, especially the third period.

"Sometimes that's how it goes," Calgary forward Nazem Kadri said. "Besides our first period (where) I thought we were lackadaisical ... I thought we played a decent game. We have better, but they're a good team over there. ... It's a playoff-style hockey game and sometimes you've got to find ways to win that game and obviously we didn't do that."

The Flames, who have cobbled together a 6-3-2 run since their early season six-game losing streak, were on the road for 13 of their first 21 games this season. Now, they have a chance to build momentum with six consecutive games at home.

"We're getting ourselves closer to .500, and we can't find a way to get that game to get there," coach Ryan Huska said. "That's the next step for us. This is a .500 road trip for us. Now we have to go home and make sure we perform well at home."

While the Golden Knights left Las Vegas lamenting how they failed to take advantage of their power plays, their struggles have nothing on Calgary's with the man advantage. The Flames are mired in a 1-for-29 slump on the power play over the last 10 games.

"A lot of times in close games, that's the difference," Huska said.

--Field Level Media

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