Golden Knight’s Stellar Fourth Line A Huge Part In Their Early Success

The 13-3, tied for the league lead in points, Vegas Golden Knights have had a consistent approach to starting games so far this season. Instead of putting top scorers like Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, or Mark Stone out to start the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy throws out his fourth line.

It currently consists of Will Carrier, Nicolas Roy, and Keegan Kolesar and has been working wonders.

They play a simple game, skating hard to gain puck possession in the offensive zone and wear down opposing team defenses. Cassidy then typically switches to his top line to try and catch tired opposing players. But lately, he hasn’t needed to as often as the fourth line is scoring themselves.

During the team’s nine-game winning streak, the play of Roy was impressive. He scored four goals and three assists for seven points in the span of just 15-ish minutes of ice time a night. Will Carrier put together a four-game point streak, and Keegan Kolesar is once again leading the team in hits with 47.

“I think that is huge that he (Bruce Cassidy) has confidence with us to play against every line. Usually, it is the first line or second line that starts on the other side. I think we have been doing well; we have been trying to get momentum to the team, and it has been going well,” said fourth-line center Roy.

It’s vastly important for a fourth line to be able to score in the modern age of the NHL, as the role of a typical fourth liner has continued to change.

“It has changed a lot. If you look back five years, it was messy. You had one or two enforcers, and they would just try to be physical out there. And that was pretty much what the fourth line would do. If you look now, everyone in the league has four lines trying to score, right? Every line is trying to score, and that is what we try to do, spend as much time as much as we can in the offensive zone,” said Roy.

Size is one of the biggest assets to the VGK’s current fourth line. Roy is 6-foot-4, 204 lbs, Kolesar is 6-foot-2, 227 lbs, and Carrier is 6-foot-2, 218 lbs. These are easily the three most sizey and brute Golden Knights forward, and they have shown it on the ice together as a unit.

If push comes to shove, literally, this line, specially Kolesar, is willing to drop the gloves. Kolesar has a total of 15 NHL fights under his belt, Carrier 4, and Roy one.

“If we were smaller guys, we probably would use our feet to our advantage and try and buzz around a little bit. So we have the size, and we use our size and our abilities. Once you hold on to the puck long enough, the opposition gets tired, and that’s when the lanes open up,” said Kolesar.

Having critical, high-impact players in the bottom six of your lineup is usually a recipe for success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There is a reason both Pat Maroon and Corey Perry have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals the last few seasons in a row.

The Golden Knights have something good going with this line. If all members can all stay healthy, the VGK will continue to be a tough team to play against. Both Carrier and Kolesar have missed games this season due to minor injuries and illnesses. But this line has still played 13/16 games together.

The team’s new-look top six, which features Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson flanking Jack Eichel as well as the Misfit Line, has been working as well. It’s a matter of depth on the third line to truly solidify the Golden Knights as a four-line team. But more on them another day.

Look for the Golden Knight’s fourth line to continue their strong play this season.

“For us, I think we have a good fourth line because we all know what we bring to the table; we bring energy, we bring puck possession, we bring physicality, and when you add those components to our lineup that we have, I think that’s a really good overall thing,” said Kolesar”