Ivan Barbashev was on pace to obliterate his career-highs before suffering an upper-body injury that forced him to miss 10 games, but since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Vegas Golden Knights forward seems to have found his offensive game once again.
Barbashev’s effort and defensive abilities are never questioned because they’re apparent each night, but following his 10-game absence, his offensive production had taken a large dip.
When he returned to the lineup on Jan. 11 and up until the break, the 29-year-old had gone goalless and recorded just four assists in 15 games. Following the break, he’s scored three goals and five points in three games.
The recent uptick has him up to 18 goals and 39 points in 49 games, on pace to tie his career-high of 26 goals and fall just three points short of his career-high of 60 points, all of which would come in nine fewer games.
The second-round pick (33rd overall) in the 2014 NHL draft had been working hard for an offensive breakthrough and got just that last night against the Chicago Blackhawks, recording a pair of goals and assists in a 7-5 victory.
“I think our line was pretty good today. We just felt on the same page. I think we just played a really solid game,” said Barbashev.
Barbashev isn’t the only member of the former first line to find offence tough to come by. Jack Eichel is goalless in his last four games and Mark Stone has scored just two goals in his last 11 games.
“Just to play simple,” said Barbashev when asked about the gameplan was for his new line. “We’ve been struggling for a while and we just had to find our game. I think this is something we did with the line changes and I think we were just feeling good today.”
Barbashev was dropped to the third line to play alongside Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden and the move paid off.
“They’re north-south players. Sometimes when you put three north-south players together you wonder who’s going to make the play in the bunch and they did, they found a way,” said HC Bruce Cassidy on the newly formed third line. “On the first goal Barby, it was a reload by Barby. Howie makes a play, outside speed causes a penalty right after that… they did it the right way, they did it by playing to their identity.”
🎥 Cassidy: You’re going to have games like this where defensively you’re not where you want to be or you don’t get the stops you want, but at least we’re in the win column. We won’t overlook that. pic.twitter.com/xyYwzvzzzR
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 28, 2025
The Golden Knights are a far more dangerous team offensively when Barbashev is producing. Eichel and Stone will find ways to create offence at any moment. Tomas Hertl continues to be a dominant threat down low, and Victor Olofsson and Pavel Dorofeyev are shot threats. Barbashev is a balanced 5-on-5 scorer who scores at an extremely efficient rate, scoring on 22.0% of his shots.
If he can sustain his offensive production, the Golden Knights will be able to get back to their consistent winning ways and secure the Pacific Division.
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