Young third defensive pair emerges for Golden Knights

Nic Hague and Zach Whitecloud spent a year by each other’s side in the American Hockey League trying to climb the hockey ladder.

This season, they’ve leveled up. The two have played three NHL games together and given the Golden Knights a young and exciting third defensive pair. They weren’t on the ice for a goal in the team’s 1-0 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday, but their strong play stood out.

“I think the best compliment I can give those two guys is I never once felt uncomfortable when they were out there, and that’s on the road against a very quick team with a lot of skill and some elite players,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “Regardless of the matchup or who they got stuck out against, I thought they defended well and hard and physically.”

Whitecloud’s play isn’t a surprise after he became an indispensable part of the lineup in the postseason. Hague, his former AHL partner with the Chicago Wolves, appears to also have risen his game in his second NHL stint.

Hague appeared in 38 games last season, finishing with one goal and 10 assists. He’s shown even more aggressiveness this year in the offensive zone and is displaying the skills that made him the 34th overall pick in 2017.

Hague had four shot attempts and one shot on goal Sunday. He also made a sharp pass that hit center Nicolas Roy on the tape in front of the net, but Roy’s shot went wide right.

“I think a lot of it comes with confidence,” Hague said. “The more we’re able to play together in the offensive zone, we’re just going to get more comfortable and see different plays when they happen.”

Hague’s defense has been sharp early as well. The 22-year-old is willing to use his huge 6-foot-6 frame — which caused former assistant coach Mike Kelly to once refer to him as “Bambi on ice” — to battle in the corners and clog up passing lanes. He blocked two shots in front of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on Sunday.

He and center Cody Glass have been coming in and out of the lineup for salary-cap reasons, but it was a performance for Hague to build upon. The Knights had a 16-6 edge in shot attempts during the 13:13 of five-on-five play he and Whitecloud shared the ice.

“Honestly (Whitecloud) and Hague (were) really good together tonight,” left wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “Definitely looking forward to seeing them play more.”

Here are three other takeaways from the win:

1. Tuch’s start

Left wing Alex Tuch recorded the secondary assist on center William Karlsson’s game-winning goal Sunday, giving him five points in six games.

It took Tuch until Dec. 2 — his 12th game — to reach five points last season. DeBoer praised his line with Roy and right wing Keegan Kolesar after the game.

The trio forechecked well and had plenty of offensive zone time. The Knights led 11-2 in shot attempts when they were on the ice. The team also had just one scoring chance in that time, however, so the group still needs to convert that possession into dangerous looks.

“There’s a lot of speed and physicality there,” DeBoer said. “They’re hard to handle.”

2. Moving on

The Knights and Coyotes were the first two teams in NHL history to play each other four consecutive times during the regular season. The Knights went 3-1, but Marchessault sounded ready to move on to a new opponent.

The two teams won’t meet again until April 9.

“After the first game we were like ‘Ah, I can’t believe we’re going to play three games against them again,’” Marchessault said. “I think we were the better team overall and that’s why we got the three wins out of four. It was a good week, let’s put it that way.”

3. Circle success

The Knights had a lot of possession Sunday and it started in the faceoff dot.

The team won 27 of the 44 draws (61.36) against the Coyotes to continue what’s been a strong start for its centers. Roy led the way by going 7-for-7, but William Karlsson (7-for-10), Tomas Nosek (6-for-11) and Chandler Stephenson (7-for-13) all won more than they lost as well.

Nosek is the only one under 50 percent for the season.

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