24 Jan 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Vegas Golden Knights Center Jack Eichel (9) celebrates after he scored a goal against the Dallas Stars during the first period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Pictures The sinking Vegas Golden Knights start their last homeland before the break for the Face of the Four Nations when they host the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Both teams participate in the competition one point from first place in their respective divisions.
Golden Knights, losers of five of their last six matches (1-4-1), fell out of the top position in the Pacific Division on Saturday when Edmonton Oilers jumped them with a 3-2 victory over Buffalo Sabers.
Florida moved within a point of the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto after crossing a 7-2 victory on San Jose on Saturday.
Vegas finished a two-game road back-to-back with a 4-3 loss at Dallas on Friday.
Jack Eichel, who scored two goals compared to the stars to increase his score a total of 61, remains in line for the first 100-point season of his career.
However, Eichel was dazzled after seeing his team handing over three goals during the second period in Dallas.
“It’s frustrating,” Eichel said. “We are in the losing column a little too much lately and we do not want this to continue to go as it goes. Every night is a tough game, and no one drops us from the hook, it must come from inside the group.
It may be easier said than done. Apart from Sunday’s game, Homestand also includes an re -match with Dallas on Tuesday and a competition with the surprising Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
“I think we’ve done enough to talk about it,” Eichel said. “It’s been a few weeks now that we’ve been fighting. It’s just a commitment to compete and do the right things and the will to win. We know we have this. It’s just about grabbing it and doing it.”
This is the last race in a four-game Western trip for Florida.
Panthers shared a southern California back-to-back to start the hike and won on Anaheim, 5-2, on Tuesday and then released a 2-1 decision to Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Florida then bounced back with the oblique victory at San Jose on Saturday night.
Matthew Tkachuk gathered a goal and two assists and defender Aaron Ekblad had one of each in his return from missing seven matches with an upper body injury versus sharks.
“We are now in position to have a really good trip,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice.
It won’t be easy. It will be the second game in a short order for Florida, who also had to fly from San Jose to Las Vegas after the victory over the sharks.
“Tomorrow comes fast,” Tkachuk said. “… we travel tonight to Vegas and will play less than 24 hours from the beginning of tonight. It will be a tough back-to-back.”
This will be the second of two meetings with the regular season between the two teams. Florida won the first, 4-3, in Sunrise, Florida, October 19 after Gustav Forsling scored a goal 4:43 to overtime.
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