Eichel searching for answers for Golden Knights in Game 5

LAS VEGAS -- The numbers jump off the page -- bold and incomprehensible.

Zero goals, one assist, minus-7. Tied for 11th in points for the Vegas Golden Knights after four games in the Western Conference First Round against the Minnesota Wild.

Those numbers belong to Jack Eichel, but Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy insists they do not define the Golden Knights' first-line center as this deadlocked best-of-7 series approaches Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, ESPN, SNE, SN360, TVAS).

“I have no issues with Jack at all,” Cassidy said after Monday’s practice at City National Arena. “I think he has been the victim of some bad luck on the plus/minus side. He’s always been a plus player here, so I am not going to read too much into that. Offensively, we are trying to help as much as we can.”

Cassidy put his lines into the blender late in Game 4, a 4-3 overtime win.

One of the results was putting Eichel with fellow center William Karlsson and shooting winger Pavel Dorofeyev. It was done in part to address matchup issues with the Wild’s top line of center Joel Eriksson Ek and wingers Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy.

“I think it worked well, we won the game,” Eichel said. “I thought we generated some good looks and had some opportunities and will continue to get better. So, in that sense, you want to keep rolling with it.”

The two-center deployment is unusual. Eichel admitted that he and Karlsson had to communicate, especially to make sure the defensemen had support down low in the defensive zone. However, it also gives them unique weapons to counter, at both ends of the ice, Minnesota’s top line, which has combined for 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in the series.

“‘Karly’ is such a great skater, he can create a lot of stuff through the neutral zone by himself,” Eichel said. “I think using that speed to create will be good.”

Still, this is all foreign territory for Eichel.

He had a career-high 94 points (28 goals, 66 assists) in 77 games during the regular season. He was plus-32.

Eichel had 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 22 postseason games and won the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in his first foray into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2023. He was a plus-14.

Now, he is searching for answers. Nothing is coming naturally.

“My job is to get to the net, play my game, maybe attack when I have the opportunity a little bit more,” Eichel said Monday. “Give them credit, they have been doing a good job. Obviously, I have to be better, whether it’s creating things off the cycle or creating things off the rush on my own or generating things for my teammates. Just try to be more dynamic and make more of an impact offensively.”

Cassidy is not blind or naïve. He knows the slump is eating at Eichel and that it is fodder for fans and critics.

“Yeah, he’s a driver and that is going to bother him,” Cassidy said. “It’s been talked about and it will be talked about.”

But he also knows what Eichel is capable of producing and believes the floodgates will open soon.

He points to Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore, who had been struggling at points in this series.

The defenseman scored the game-opening goal in Game 4 and was on fire for the remainder of the contest. He finished with six shots on goal and had 10 attempts. He could be found everywhere in the game.

“Scores a goal early and then he is lights-out for the rest of the day,” Cassidy said. “Sometimes that is all you need, a little weight off your shoulders. They’re human, too. That’s probably what Jack needs, is for something to go his way early on.”

Then, Cassidy brought up Jonathan Marchessault, the forward who won the Conn Smythe Trophy with the Golden Knights in 2023. Marchessault had two assists in five games in the first round against the Winnipeg Jets, and he scored for the first time that postseason in his eighth game, getting two goals in Game 3 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers. He then had 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in the final 14 games of that run.

“Things can change,” Cassidy said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”

It changes through hard work and that hasn’t been absent, according to Cassidy.

“He’s a competitor,” Cassidy said. “He [isn’t] going anywhere.”