LAS VEGAS — With Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Vegas Golden Knights closed the first month of January batting .500.
The problem fans are struggling with is Vegas hit the road for four games before the 4 Nations Faceoff having lost nine of 12 since Jan . 9 (3-9-3).
Surprisingly, despite the 12 losses, the 15 points Vegas accumulated is tied for the second-most in franchise history for the month of January.
Despite losing four of their last six, the Golden Knights earned points in five of their last six games from two wins and three overtime losses.
“It was a .500 month,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s not what we’re aiming for, but if that turns out to be our worst month, we’ll be in good shape.”
Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s game:
OFFENSIVE FUTILITY: After last night’s one-goal showing, it marked the first time the Knights scored less than three goals in seven games, and was just the third time they scored less than three in the month of January.
Vegas ranked fourth in the league with 3.51 goals-for-per-game through Dec. 31, but rank 13th in the NHL with 2.93 gpg. in January alone.
And during the 15-game stretch since Jan. 9, the Knights rank 21st with a mere 2.67 gpg.
“In January you’ve seen a lot of teams aren’t always executing at a high level because of the fatigue factor,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Right now offensively we’re not executing (at) a high enough level to take over some of these games.
“We need a little more offense right now from certain individuals, and hopefully it’ll come,” Cassidy season. “It came earlier in the year. I believe it’s there, it’s just, didn’t come enough this year.”
HERTL DOES IT AGAIN: Tomas Hertl continued his hot streak, with 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) during a team-leading 11-game point streak, including eight goals in eight games. Hertl’s 11-game stretch is the longest of his career and is the second-longest streak by a Golden Knight.
He’s the second Knight, along with Jack Eichel, to post a point streak of 10 games or longer. Hertl owns 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 52 games this season.
SPEAKING OF .500: Vegas has split all 50 games it’s played against the upcoming quartet of Metropolitan Division it’ll face before the 4 Nations break.
The Knights open a four-game road trip with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, then visit the Islanders on Tuesday in Long Island. They’ll visit the Devils in Jersey on Thursday before closing out the first half in Boston on Saturday.
Vegas is 8-5-0 against the Rangers since it entered the league in 2017. It’s 6-5-2 against the Islanders, 7-2-3 against the Devils and 4-7-1 against the Bruins, Cassidy’s former team, the Bruins.
