Bruce Cassidy Wants To Instill New Focus To Start Games Next Season

For a team as consistently successful as the 2024-25 Golden Knights, it’s peculiar that one of the issues they enter the offseason battling is how to overcome slow starts. It’s something Bruce Cassidy and his staff fought the entire season and ultimately just decided it was part of their identity based on the way they like to play (here’s a whole article I wrote on it back in January).

However, it ended up coming back to bite them pretty badly in the playoffs. The Golden Knights allowed the first goal in five of their 11 playoff games this season and they went on to lose all but one of them. They fell behind by multiple goals in the 1st period four separate times as well.

I think this series (against Edmonton), the biggest thing was we were getting down in games, right? So you’re starting games 2-0. It’s not easy to climb back against good teams. Anybody who’s in the playoffs is a good team. So where does that come from? It comes from within the room. It’s just got to be us making sure you’re ready to play. -Alex Pietrangelo

The Golden Knights were a +18 in the 1st period in the regular season but it dipped to a -4 in the playoffs. The issue was particularly troublesome on the road as they were a +0 in the regular season and amassed the entire -4 in the postseason.

Bruce Cassidy said the advanced analytics weren’t bad for his team in the 1st period, especially against the Oilers. But, he still believes the up-tempo, high-risk style of game they like to play might need to be changed at puck drop each night next year.

The biggest thing we’ll try to change is that we like to make plays. We like to get into the game by making plays and we have to change our mindset for the first 10 minutes. We’re going to play behind them no matter what and establish that part of the game because at least you don’t usually fall behind if you’re managing the puck early. You might not get ahead, but you’re establishing territory, pace, style of play. -Cassidy

Cassidy points to an “energy” type line as useful to help the team adopt that style quickly. He said he liked the Nic Roy, Keegan Kolesar, and Tanner Pearson trio’s ability to start games and play the heavy forecheck game right from the jump. As that line was broken apart to fill in up the lineup, he thought the buy-in to that style wasn’t there from the forward lines in the playoffs.

So we have to reestablish a line that’s willing, you know, that can do that or two and then drag the other guys into that type of game. And then later it opens up the ice maybe for the East-West stuff. So that’s an area of focus for us next year is how we start games and what we do with the puck. -Cassidy

With similar personnel returning, though, he’s not sure it will be easy to implement.

Again, for a team that likes to make plays, there’s going to be resistance. So that’s the challenge I’ll have about managing the puck better. I’ve said it all along, our giveaways were too high, but they (were always going to be because) there’s going to be some risk in our game. And then our shot mentality. Those will be the two specifics we’ll hope to address in how we change the way we play next year. -Cassidy

It’s easy to say a few days after being shut out in back-to-back games by Stuart Skinner and the Edmonton Oilers. It’s a lot harder to actually put it into action night in and night out for 82 games and then a playoff run. They’re going to have to commit to it, even during games in which the more exciting plays are available.

Fortunately, the coach is confident they can, and the captain agrees.

But I don’t know. It’s something that we’ve been pretty good at before this year, so we’ll be able to figure it out. -Mark Stone