Knights head into eventful January looking to build off December. What we know about this month to Celebrity them…

The Golden Knights will play a lot of notable games in January, including their first time facing departed Stanley Cup hero Jonathan Marchessault.

The Golden Knights couldn’t have picked a better spot to begin 2025 in.

Sure, 2024 ended on a sour note with the Knights losing 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. It was an uncharacteristic display that didn’t look at all how the Knights steamrolled through December with a 10-2 record.

The Knights will look to get back on the winning track against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena, still in an enviable position despite that blip on the radar on New Year’s Eve.

The Knights are heading into the new year as the top team in the NHL with a .716 points percentage and 53 points. The Winnipeg Jets have 55 points, but the Knights have two games in hand.

The Knights also hold a four-point cushion on the Los Angeles Kings and a six-point edge on the Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific Division. The Knights created that sizable lead despite the Kings going 11-2-2 since Nov. 27 and the Oilers amassing a 12-3-1 run since Nov. 23.

“To me, get your points while you can,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s just the National Hockey League. You never know. There are teams in this league, and I don’t have to tell you who they are, where it’s gone the other way in a hurry. So it can happen to anybody.”

The Knights (25-9-3) are getting back to a more condensed schedule after a relaxed December. They had three stretches of at least three days between games, including the mandatory Christmas break. The rest was welcomed after a grueling November.

There won’t be that luxury this time around with 15 games in January — nine at home, six away — and three back-to-backs sprinkled in.

Only one of those games — Jan. 7 at San Jose — is against a Pacific Division opponent. The Knights used December to fortify their division dominance, now 13-2-1, by going 7-1 against division foes.

The good news for the Knights is the first five games of the month are against teams below the playoff cutline in the Eastern Conference, including the last-place Buffalo Sabres (Saturday) and New York Rangers (Jan. 11).

There are chances to bank more points before the schedule gets hectic.

“Whoever the next opponent is, get to your game, try to get as many points as you can every night,” Cassidy said. “We’ve been able to do that (in December) than the previous two months.”

Marquee matchups

January is also a time for games that were circled on the calendar before the season began.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will make his final appearance at T-Mobile Arena when the Minnesota Wild come to town on Jan. 12. Fleury, 40, will retire at the end of the season.

The second-winningest goalie in NHL history (567) claimed 117 victories with the Knights over four seasons, helped them reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 and won the Vezina Trophy and Jennings Trophy in 2021.

Two days later, Jonathan Marchessault will face his former team for the first time as a member of the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Jan. 14.

Marchessault, the Knights’ all-time leader in goals (192) and points (417) and the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP, signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with Nashville on July 1 after playing the first seven years of the Knights’ existence with the organization.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will make their lone trip to Vegas on Jan. 26 in a matchup of the past two league champions. Florida won the first meeting, 4-3 in overtime, on Oct. 19 in Sunrise, Florida.

Keeping it going

The Knights would love to carry their production from December into January.

They outscored teams 40-23 and gave up 1.92 goals in 12 games and held teams to two goals or less in nine of them. The level of competition helped, but the Knights still found ways to win against Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas and Minnesota.

This time last season, the Knights had 49 points and the eighth-best points percentage in the league. They went 7-5-1 in January and went from tied atop the Pacific Division to seven points behind the Vancouver Canucks by the All-Star break.

They’ll gladly take where they are now, but there are still plenty of games to go.

“I think we’re really picking up off each other right now,” center Brett Howden said. “We just want to keep that going.”