Grading Golden Knights through two-thirds of season

The Golden Knights are an interesting evaluation almost two-thirds of the way through their season.

They’re undoubtedly one of the NHL’s top teams. But establishing an exact pecking order is more difficult than ever this season with teams playing only division games.

The Knights are also tough to pin down because of the splits in their record. They’re 19-4-1 against teams in fourth place and lower in the West Division and 5-6-1 combined against first-place Colorado and third-place Minnesota.

The Knights probably will have to beat at least one of those teams in the playoffs. Their final two games against each opponent should be interesting as all three prepare for the postseason.

“You can see where the games are going,” coach Pete DeBoer said Saturday. “We have to be comfortable in those type of games. The playoffs are on the horizon, and everybody is dialing in on playoff-type details in order to win.”

Here are the Knights’ grades for the second period of their season:

Forwards

Listed by points

Mark Stone — There haven’t been many skaters in the NHL better than Stone. He has the 12th-most points in the league with 40, and his defense has been unsurprisingly excellent.

Max Pacioretty — He’s tied for seventh in the NHL with 18 goals. He’s also first in overtime goals with four. He’s doing exactly what he gets paid to do.

William Karlsson — His goal scoring is starting to pick up, with four in his past nine games. He’s doing just about everything else well, too.

Jonathan Marchessault — He’s been one of the Knights’ most consistent players. He’s gone back-to-back games without a point just four times.

Alex Tuch — He had a hot stick for a while, but it’s cooled off. He had 12 goals in his first 21 games but one in his past 14.

Chandler Stephenson — He’s been a dependable presence in the middle of the top line. His three-game suspension for elbowing was a blow.

Tomas Nosek — He’s been playing really well since recovering from COVID-19. He has nine points in his past 10 games and has been strong on the penalty kill.

Reilly Smith — He’s having his worst offensive season with the Knights, with 12 points in 36 games (0.33 points per game). His previous low in the past three seasons was 0.72 points per game.

Cody Glass — His struggle to make an impact at five-on-five got him demoted briefly to the American Hockey League. The Knights hope he built confidence there.

Keegan Kolesar — He finally got his first NHL goal after creating chance after chance. He’s finding the second one nearly as elusive despite getting good looks.

William Carrier — He and the rest of the fourth line have raised their games in recent weeks. They’ve been chipping in more offensively after simplifying their game in the offensive zone.

Nicolas Roy — He hasn’t been able to get himself going offensively. He has five points in 33 games but is playing solid defense.

Ryan Reaves — He, like Carrier, started to elevate his play. His momentum was halted recently with a lower-body injury.

Grade: 3½ out of five sticks

The Knights’ top players have been really good. Depth players Nosek, Carrier and Reaves are starting to play well. But the team still has a lot of players slumping, such as Smith, Tuch and Glass. The Knights need those players to start contributing more often.

Defensemen

Listed by points

Shea Theodore — He’s sixth among defensemen with 29 points, and his defense hasn’t been too shabby. He is plus-12 at five-on-five, the second-best mark on the team.

Alec Martinez — He leads the NHL in blocked shots with 116, 12 more than second-place Adam Larsson. He’s also scoring the most points per game of his career (0.56) at age 33.

Nic Hague — He was showing growth as a sophomore offensively and defensively, then hit a rough patch with penalties. He has seven in his past four games.

Alex Pietrangelo — He looks more and more comfortable in his first season with the team. But an upper-body injury that caused him to miss 12 games set him back.

Zach Whitecloud — He plays effective minutes. He defends hard, makes good decisions and can generate offense when he sees an opening.

Dylan Coghlan — His hat trick in Minnesota will be a game he remembers forever. But it doesn’t totally make up for his defense, which is a work in progress.

Brayden McNabb — He returned to the lineup March 10 after a lower-body injury and played the type of physical, defensive hockey the Knights expect from him.

Nick Holden — He hasn’t been in the lineup much and recently passed through waivers for the second time. But he’s been effective in the 14 games he has played.

Grade: 3½ out of five pucks

The Knights have played one game in the past two months with their six first-choice defensemen. Despite all that, the blue line has largely held it together with players stepping into different and larger roles. The team hopes the defense corps will have more time to jell in the final third of the season.

Goaltenders

Listed by starts

Marc-Andre Fleury — He has, somewhat expectedly, tailed off a little after an incredible start. He’s tied for third in wins (17) and ranks fifth in goals-against average (2.14) among goaltenders with at least 10 starts.

Robin Lehner — He’s been sensational since returning from his concussion. He’s 3-0-1 in that span with a 1.47 goals-against average and .942 save percentage.

Grade: Five out of five nets

Fleury no longer is shouldering the net by himself, but the results have been the same. The Knights are getting some of the best goaltending in the NHL. They rank second in team save percentage at .918, behind Minnesota.

Special teams

Power play — The Knights rank 24th in the NHL at 17.9 percent, 0.1 percent behind the offensively challenged Arizona Coyotes. This is an area that needs to improve.

Penalty kill — The Knights continue to excel in an area in which DeBoer’s teams usually do. They rank sixth on the PK (84.5 percent) and have given up two power-play goals in a game just twice.

Grade: Three out of five penalty boxes

The Knights’ penalty kill has been so good it almost never loses them games. On the flip side, their scuffling power play doesn’t get them many wins.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.