So far, DeBoer making only slight tweaks to spark a Golden Knights surge

By Justin Emerson

Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 | 2 a.m.

MONTREAL — The first game with Peter DeBoer as coach felt mostly the same for the Golden Knights. There were no glaring line changes, no new defensive structures and no special-teams overhauls in his debut Thursday against the Senators.

And it doesn’t sound like there will be any significant changes, at least right away. It’s not as if a coach can come in and reconfigure a team overnight. It takes time, and DeBoer said he’s going to sit with the coaching staff during the upcoming bye week and hammer out the direction they want the team to take.

Friday’s practice at Bell Centre was the first in DeBoer’s Vegas coaching tenure, as he spent nearly an hour on the ice as the players learned how he runs a practice. The Golden Knights play Montreal at 4 p.m. today.

“We threw a bunch of different stuff at them and they were dialed in, they executed, a lot of good questions,” DeBoer said. “I thought they worked hard today, and I was excited to be out there with them.”

A few things changed, but nothing major.

The Golden Knights didn’t take line rushes at the start of practice as they had in the past, and they spent more time than normal at the whiteboard watching DeBoer draw up plays. DeBoer mentioned after Thursday’s win that there were things he wanted them to “clean up,” which based on practices included breakouts beginning from behind the net and defending the zone entry on the penalty kill.

“We’re not doing a new system, just tweaks here and there,” forward Max Pacioretty said. “We even tweaked one 20-something games into the season. This isn’t something that we’re not used to. It should lead hopefully to catching some teams off and hopefully lead to some success.”

For some players, the transition will be easy. For others, not so much.

Chandler Stephenson is on his third coach this season after a December trade from Washington, while Gallant is the only NHL coach that Nicolas Hague ever had. Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith played with Gallant not only in Vegas, but also in Florida.

Players conceded it was a little odd hearing DeBoer’s voice behind them Thursday night instead of Gallant’s, and the feeling must have been similar to see DeBoer skating with them and blowing the whistle in practice. But nearly every player on the team has played for more than one coach. This will be no different.

“Just small adjustments, nothing crazy,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “At the end of the day it’s all about buying in, and we’re going to have buy in as a group.”

The Golden Knights have two more games before a 10-day layoff — against the Canadiens tonight and 4 p.m. Tuesday in Boston against the Bruins. In that regard, you can argue the timing of DeBoer’s hiring couldn’t have worked out better. He gets three games to evaluate the players, then a week and a half to devise a game plan to suit them.

The biggest issue the Golden Knights will have is relearning how the coach wants practices to run. DeBoer was pleased with the first day, but Gallant ran practices for two and a half years before DeBoer came in and started doing it another way.

“I think it’s just implementing some new things and there’s obviously not much time to practice or do those things,” Stephenson said. “Just trying to get it embedded in us. Just trying some new things.”