"We're still making up ground, we're not there yet," said head coach Gerard Gallant. "When you look at the last few games, we've played good hockey. We have to continue that to have a chance to keep climbing in the standings. Everybody else is winning so we have to keep winning."
Teams around the Pacific Division have been winning at a rate that turns every loss into a missed opportunity. As of Dec. 7, the first-place Calgary Flames have won four games in a row, the second-place Ducks have five straight wins and the third-place Sharks have back-to-back victories in their pocket. Vegas has seven wins in their last eight games and is now in the position of knocking on the doors of teams above them. Defenseman Nate Schmidt said that he likes to check in on the scores and standings around the league once in a while and that planning a climb in the standings doesn't change the day-to-day attitude of the team.
"I think this group has had a much different start than last year," Schmidt said. "We're grinding more. Last year, we would just focus on our game and not worry about other teams. Now, we have to stick to that mindset more than ever and focus only on what our group is doing."
Schmidt has helped Vegas improve its team speed since his return to the lineup after missing the first 20 games of the season, and players with the tag of "defensive defenseman" like Deryk Engelland have found a way to get involved in the scoring.
"Even the most defensive defenseman loves going into the offensive zone," he said. "It's a lot more fun than playing in your own zone."
Collective contribution takes some of the weight off the shoulders of the players who score more consistently for the Golden Knights. Alex Tuch, who scored the game-winning goal for Vegas against Chicago on Dec. 6, has clicked at just shy of a point-per-game pace since making his season debut on Oct. 24.
"We're playing as a six-man unit," Tuch said. "Everyone's involved in every single play. It starts in the defensive end. We're communicating well and that helps us."
Keeping a narrow focus on each game as it happens is the catalyst for any team's ascent in the standings and the Golden Knights know that needs to happen as they seek another Pacific Division championship.
"We just have to keep grinding," Tuch said. "Every point matters in this league, whether you play a team in your division or a team all the way out east. You see down the stretch where if you would have won this game or that game you would've made the playoffs. We worry about each and every game and we take it step by step."
