(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
Before the 2025-26 season began, Bruce Cassidy came in with one specific area of improvement on his mind. After watching the scoring dry up against Edmonton, one of the league’s worst defensive teams, in the 2025 Playoffs, Cassidy knew that for Vegas to have success this year, they’d have to score a specific style of goal.
We’ve talked about offensive zone principles and how we can score more goals in the dirty areas. That was an evaluation from why our season ended last year. -Cassidy on October 10th, 2025
To have success at the hardest time of the year, the Golden Knights would have to score “greasy” “playoff-style” goals. Unlike the pretty highlight goals VGK have been known for from many of their highly-skilled forwards, these goals typically come on rebound, tips, loose pucks, or broken plays, and they almost always happen directly in front of the opposing goal.
Cassidy harped on it throughout training camp and well into the first month of the season. He has brought it back up time and time again. And now, as we enter the time of year when these goals really are the only way to win games, the Golden Knights have still not proven they’ve gotten the message.
We turned down a lot of shots after it looked like we might have broken them down trying to make one extra pass, and that’s a bit of a hallmark of our team. Sometimes it’s tough lessons when you’re not scoring. -Cassidy on March 10th, 2026
Over the last seven games, the Golden Knights have scored a total of 13 goals. Only the Calgary Flames have scored fewer over the span. Look at the map of where the goals have come from.
More than half of them have been within five feet of the goal crease.
You get greasy goals by putting pucks to the net, and that’s what opens up other plays at times. We’re getting away (from that). We’re trying to make the pretty plays first instead of getting it to the net, recover a puck, break them down, then make your pretty play. -Cassidy on March 10th, 2026
The Dallas game was the culmination of VGK’s unwillingness to get to the front of the net. The Stars scored both of their goals right in front of Adin Hill’s crease while VGK attempted just three shots from the most dangerous area of the ice.
Credit: NaturalStatTrick.com
VGK were far too comfortable living on the outside against the 2nd-best defensive team in the NHL, and they paid the price. Sure, it may have looked like a more competitive game, but in March, April, and beyond, it’s extremely difficult to win without greasy goals, and the Golden Knights simply didn’t have enough action around the net to get them.
Cassidy has been trying to deliver this message since the moment the season ended in overtime of Game 5 last year. To this point, the problem persists, and unless it’s nipped in the bud soon, there may not be a postseason in Vegas this year.
