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ST. LOUIS — The Golden Knights acquired Chandler Stephenson last week in a trade to provide depth to their bottom six. He debuted as a fourth-line center and played some third-line wing, which appeared to be the extent of his role going forward.
Then Cody Glass got hurt. Cody Eakin was injured the week before, and suddenly what looked like a depth move turned into much more when Stephenson centered the second line between Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone in Tuesday’s win over Chicago.
With two centers on the shelf, the Golden Knights' depth at center will be tested over this next stretch that includes back-to-back road games against the defending champion Blues and defensive juggernaut Stars.
“I think there’s a few system changes, but personally there’s not much I think that I need to change,” Stephenson said when he was acquired. “Just be myself and kind of have fun with it.”
It's not just Stephenson being thrust into the spotlight. When Glass was injured, the Golden Knights opted to call up winger Valentin Zykov instead of center Nicolas Roy, leaving Stephenson, William Karlsson, Paul Stastny and Tomas Nosek as the only healthy centers on the roster.
Karlsson isn’t moving off the top line and seemingly Nosek isn’t moving off the fourth. So that leaves Stephenson and Stastny as the middle six, and the Golden Knights decided to put Stastny on the third line Tuesday to spark that line.
The line of Stastny, Zykov and Alex Tuch was serviceable, as was Stephenson, Pacioretty and Stone. The advanced numbers don’t play great in their favor, but both lines contributed a goal at even strength without allowing one. It was solid.
But they will have to be better than solid on this road trip. It’s start at 7 p.m. tonight in St. Louis where the Blues are showing no signs of a Stanley Cup hangover. The Blues are one of the top teams in the Western Conference with an 18-8-6 record, which includes their current three-game losing streak.
It doesn’t get any easier Friday when the Golden Knights head to Dallas. The Stars are arguably the best defensive team in hockey, having allowed just 76 goals in 32 games, the fewest in the conference. Dallas beat the Golden Knights 4-2 on Nov. 25, the final game before Vegas rattled off four wins in a row.
It's going to start with the centers. Cody Eakin was listed as week-to-week at the beginning of December, and while Vegas was off Wednesday with no update on Glass, he didn’t have a rosy prognosis.
Stephenson in particular is playing a role he really never has been asked to after working almost exclusively bottom-six minutes in Washington. He passed his first test on Tuesday, and now he’ll play big minutes against some of the best teams in the league.
“I thought his speed was noticeable tonight. I think that line played real well, had a lots of chances,” coach Gerard Gallant said after the Chicago game. “Everything worked tonight. So, hopefully it will work the next game, but we were really happy with the performance from everybody.”
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