Golden Knights face rival Sharks needing help to win division
SAN JOSE, Calif. — One by one, the Golden Knights trudged back onto the ice following Monday’s home finale for the presentation of the season-ending awards.
Their faces tried to hide the disappointment from that night’s result at T-Mobile Arena, but their body language betrayed them.
Now the Knights must pick themselves off the mat following their gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche and dust themselves off before Wednesday’s regular-season finale against rival San Jose at SAP Center.
“We’ll be ready for Wednesday, and whenever we open up the playoffs. We’ll have all hands on deck and be ready to rock,” captain Mark Stone said.
The Knights (39-14-2, 80 points) no longer control their destiny in the West Division after holding a six-point lead over Colorado on April 28 but can still claim their third title in four seasons with help from Los Angeles.
If the Knights defeat the Sharks and Colorado (37-13-4, 78 points) loses one of its final two games at home against the Kings, the Knights would claim the top seed in the division and also the Presidents’ Trophy for the best record in the league.
The Avalanche own the tiebreaker over the Knights with more regulation wins (33-29).
The winner of the West Division meets fourth-seeded St. Louis in the opening round of the postseason, while No. 3 Minnesota awaits in the other series. The NHL has not announced when the playoffs will begin.
The Knights were forced to play short-handed with 10 forwards and five defensemen rather than the full complement of 18 skaters against Colorado in the most important game of the season Monday because of injuries and salary cap constraints.
Defenseman Alec Martinez was scratched with an undisclosed injury and forward Peyton Krebs suffered a fractured jaw Saturday against St. Louis when he was hit in the face with a puck and is out indefinitely.
General manager Kelly McCrimmon said during his media availability prior to the game that the Knights did not have enough salary cap space to recall their replacements.
The Knights can use the roster emergency exception rule to add reinforcements and ice a team with 17 skaters against the Sharks, according to McCrimmon. There were no roster moves announced Tuesday.
The team was scheduled to practice Tuesday before leaving for San Jose but canceled practice following the game Monday. That meant there was no update on Martinez or the status of injured forwards Max Pacioretty and Tomas Nosek for the regular-season finale. Forward Ryan Reaves remains on long-term injured reserve.
Marc-Andre Fleury is in line to start based on the goalie rotation used by coach Pete DeBoer and carries a personal eight-game winning streak.
The Knights are 7-0 against San Jose in the season series.
The Sharks are expected to counter with either Josef Korenar or Alexei Melnichuk in net and will be without several key players, including captain Logan Couture. Forwards Ryan Donato is one of a handful of game-time decisions, with San Jose coach Bob Bougher focused on evaluating young players rather than playing spoiler.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.