VGK’ѕ Beѕt Plаyerѕ Muѕt Step It Up At Even Strengtһ

When the Golden Knights went on their magical run to the Stanley Cup in 2023, they did it by dominating their opponents at even strength. In 22 playoff games, the Golden Knights scored more 5-on-5 goals than any other team in playoff history (since they began counting goals by strength in 2010) with a massive 66. They scored 65% of the goals at even strength outscoring their opponents 71-38.

Three players led the way in the postseason when the manpower was even: Jonathan Marchessault, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone. They averaged more than 3.25 points per 60 minutes each and ranked 1, 2, and 3 of all players who participated in at least 15 playoff games that year.

Vegas’ leader in even strength points per 60 minutes this season is Ivan Barbashev with 2.68. Eichel and Stone follow closely behind at 2.67 and 2.45 respectively. These numbers aren’t bad as all three rank in the Top 50 in the NHL with both Barbashev and Eichel in the Top 30. The issue is, most of the damage done to generate those numbers happened before the calendar turned to 2025.

In the first 37 games of the season, between opening night and New Year’s Day, Eichel posted 32 even strength points in 37 games. Barbashev had 29 in 31 games and Stone 19 in 23. Simply put, that trio was good for at least a point apiece per game for the first three months of the year.

Recently, those numbers have hit the skids. Eichel had one goal at even strength, while Barbashev had a single assist, and Stone generated just two assists on the recent four-game road trip. That’s a single goal and three assists in four games between the three most important even strength players on the roster. Earlier in the year, they rarely went a single game without a goal between them and they’d never go more than two games in a row without points.

These numbers have massively impacted the team’s overall numbers at even strength. The Golden Knights ranked 2nd in the league with 103 even strength goals in the first 37 games of the year (from October through December). That averaged out to 3.15 goals per 60 minutes. Since then, those numbers have dipped dramatically. They’re down to 2.52 per 60, or 68 in 30 games. In 2025, they’ve been below average scoring at even strength and it’s a big reason they boast the league’s 18th-best points percentage of .550 since the calendar flipped.

Vegas’ power play proficiency will help offset the lack of even strength scoring a bit, certainly more than it has in the past, but for this year’s version of the Golden Knights to have any success at all the rest of the year and into the playoffs, their best players have to produce at 5-on-5. As we saw during the road trip, they couldn’t survive against teams like Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Detroit, imagine what that’ll look like in the playoffs against the likes of Los Angeles, Edmonton, Dallas, Colorado, or Winnipeg.

Great teams and great players do damage when the numbers are even. Eichel, Stone, Barbashev, and the rest of the Golden Knights need to ramp it back up at even strength, otherwise, this season will be ending a lot quicker than expected.