BOSTON — The Vegas Golden Knights are one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League.
And North Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel is a big reason why.
No other squad in the 32-team league has collected as many wins or points as the Eichel-led Knights since Jan. 4 as of the team’s most recent win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night. In that 11-game stretch, Vegas is 8-2-1 and has amassed 17 points.
So it comes as no surprise that Jan. 4 was also the start of an 11-game point streak for Eichel. The smooth-skating center has been dominating the NHL ice sheets, posting 7-13-20 in his last 11 games. And in that span, no other player in the league has totaled more points. Eichel and his linemate Mark Stone (9-11-20) sit alone atop the NHL leaderboard over the last 20 days.
“I think he reads off me pretty well, and vice versa,” Eichel, 29, said of playing with Stone after the team’s morning skate on Thursday at TD Garden. “Mark is such an easy player to play with. I think whenever you put him with somebody, they’re going to have success because of all the little things he does. He wins a ton of battles, gets so many pucks back and he’s good on the wall. Obviously, he’s great around the net, and he finishes off a ton of plays and he makes a ton of plays. You add all those things up, it’s a pretty easy guy to play with.”
Eichel is certainly holding is own. The phenom that learned to skate at area rinks and ponds is outscoring players like Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. That’s the type of hockey Eichel is playing right now, and he has deservedly risen to the tier of the NHL’s elite over the last few seasons with Vegas.
The points are piling up for the 6-foot-2 Eichel, who leads the team with 19-42-61. Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy doesn’t see anything different in his star player’s game, however. Eichel’s game impacts more areas than solely the scoresheet.
Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm (28) and Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel fall after a faceoff during the third period of an NHL game Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
“I wouldn’t say it’s any different than it always is,” Cassidy said on what stands out about Eichel’s current play. “He’s a 200-foot player, he takes tough matchups, he’s on our PK. Power play goes through him and (Stone). He’s our leading scorer. We rely on him for everything, to be honest. He kind of drags us into the fight that way.”
Eichel’s point streak has produced countless highlight plays. In Thursday night’s 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins, Eichel starred in his homecoming on Garden ice. Succumbing to an early 4-0 deficit, Eichel helped bring Vegas back into the game with a goal and an assist in the third period.
His tally just 31 seconds into the frame represents everything that makes Eichel so dominant. Collecting a pass from Noah Hanifin along the left wall, Eichel carried the puck to the top of the offensive zone before leaving a drop pass for him. Eichel then circled around the zone to the right side of the ice, cutting to the net and tapping in a cross-ice feed from Hanifin to put the Knights on the board.
High-level skating. Elite hockey IQ. A goal scorer’s touch. Eichel is making it look easy.
Eichel also dazzled in a four-point night in the team’s 6-5 overtime win over Toronto on Jan. 15, where Eichel potted the game-winner. An uncovered Eichel walked into the attacking zone, receiving a pass from Stone below the goal line before faking to his forehand and finishing on his backhand to the delight of the home crowd.
The Eichel-Stone connection has been nothing short of lethal. Stone is also in the midst of a point streak — a franchise-best 14-game run — and has netted 12-11-23 in that span. Stone has scored nine goals during Eichel’s point streak, and Eichel has assisted on six of them.
Both players have dealt with the injury bug this season. Stone was sidelined for 16 games earlier in the campaign, while Eichel was on the shelf for seven games at the end of December.
“He looks really good now,” Cassidy said of Eichel. “I think he went through a stretch where he maybe wasn’t as healthy. He missed, what, three weeks, and then took a little while to get up to speed. That part of it, he looks like he’s as healthy as he’s ever been all year.”
Eichel enjoyed a career season a year ago with Vegas, putting up 28-66-94 in 77 games. Averaging over 1.4 points per game this season, he is on pace to set new career highs in assists and points again. The 2025-26 season hasn’t been easy, either, with a tighter schedule due to the looming break for the Olympics in February. Eichel will be a key part of Team USA’s roster in Italy.
Vegas Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel celebrates after a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during first-period NHL game action in Toronto on Friday night. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
“Just stick with the process,” Eichel said of navigating the highs and lows of a season. “Do what makes you successful as a group, and when things aren’t going your way, sometimes you have to dig in a little more. For us, we’ve had a few different goalies play for us now, we’ve had quite a bit of guys in and out of the lineup, and just tons of credit to everyone that’s taken the ice. I feel like everyone puts their best foot forward every night, and we all compete for each other. If things aren’t going well, we just kind of stick with it and know that we’re going to get out of it at some point. I think it all helps you at the end of the year when you do go through adversity as a group, and then you can find your game.”
The Knights look like a real Stanley Cup Contender at this point in the season and have recently traded for Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who will be an impact player on the Vegas blue line.
And Eichel, soaring to new heights in the prime of his career, will be at the center of it all.