Rough road stretch for Golden Knights opens in Nasvhille

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — William Karlsson hasn’t memorized the Golden Knights’ upcoming schedule. But he’s certain of one thing.

“All I know is we have a lot of road games,” Karlsson said. “That means we’re going to be home later in the year, right? So, it has its ups and it has its downs.”

After giving the NHL’s newest team a favorable schedule to open its inaugural season, the empire struck back in the Knights’ second year.

Starting with Tuesday’s game against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena, the Knights play 12 of their next 17 games on the road, including six of their next seven away from home against teams with a combined record of 35-19-9.

“It’s funny because somebody said in the dressing room we had a five-game homestand and we went 3-1-1, but it doesn’t feel like that because we started off at (2-4) when we got home,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We want to win and we want to play better and we want to make sure things are going.

“It’s a tough trip coming up to Nashville and St. Louis and they’re good hockey teams. We’ve just got to keep going. We have to keep playing like this.”

The Knights traveled Monday and did not provide an update on whether injured forwards Max Pacioretty and Cody Eakin are cleared to play on the two-game trip that concludes Thursday at St. Louis.

Pacioretty left in the first period of Friday’s 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay after absorbing a hard hit from Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn and did not play in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime victory over Ottawa. He is listed as day to day.

Eakin took an illegal check to the head from Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki in the first period Sunday and did not return. Borowiecki was slapped with a three-game suspension Monday by the league’s Department of Player Safety.

“It’s not where we wanted to be as a group to start the year, but I mean, all teams face adversity in the year and we have a lot of injuries right now,” leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault said. “It’s not an excuse. It’s just, we’ve got to see it as guys need to step up. I think we all need to step up, especially for myself.”

Nashville, which is tied with Colorado atop the Central Division with 16 points, continues a tough opening stretch for the Knights. The Predators are the eighth playoff team from last season the Knights haved faced through 12 games.

The Knights (5-5-1, 11 points) sit one point out of a playoff spot and are three points back of Pacific Division-leading San Jose, but can’t afford to fall too far behind.

Nov. 1 is often cited as a statistical benchmark, as teams out of the playoffs by four points or more on that date rarely dig out of the hole.

Minnesota overcame a four-point deficit last season to reach the postseason, but since 2005-06, 51 of 58 teams (88 percent) in that position on Nov. 1 ended up missing the playoffs.

Of course, Washington started 5-6-1 and won the Stanley Cup last season, and Nashville was nine points behind St. Louis on Nov. 1. The Predators went on to claim the Presidents’ Trophy for the most points in the regular season (117) and the Blues missed the playoffs, so a lot can change in the next five months.

The Knights, who went 2-3 on their first road trip, carry a bit of momentum into Nashville. They dominated Tampa Bay in the third period of Friday’s loss and fired a franchise-record 53 shots on goal against the Senators.

“We’ve got a lot of road games in November,” right wing Ryan Reaves said Sunday. “To come off this win and go on the road with some confidence is big for us.”

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.