The Story of Vegas and the Stanley Cup
A local perspective
Las Vegas, Nevada remains one of the few cities defined by people who don’t live there. It’s inspired numerous think pieces about consumerism or decadency or whatever. People spend money and enjoy doing things, and that makes sophisticated intellectuals sad. Most know little of the city outside The Strip: that thin stretch of land from the Mandalay Bay in the South to the Wynn in the North. Yes, I said the Wynn. You’re not on The Strip, Sahara, and we all know it. Outside of the workers, you won’t mind many Las Vegas residents in this area. You’re more likely to meet a native in Stoney’s in Town Square, Oddfellow’s in Downtown Las Vegas, or Public School 702 in Downtown Summerlin. Few mention these areas when they opine about Las Vegas, though, because tourists forget that some people live here. I can understand the sentiment, admittedly. For most of the city’s history, nothing centered the residents. Nothing, at least, until October 2017.
You might have forgotten about the largest mass shooting in American history, but, I can assure you, we did not. I woke up in the middle of that night to find numerous text messages, some from people I hadn’t seen in years, asking if I was safe from the carnage. I was, thankfully. In the subsequent days, though, I returned to school to find vacant parking lots and empty classrooms. I can’t recall if UNLV ever officially canceled classes, but professors and students seemed to agree that they couldn’t be held. Even the six-lane Las Vegas Strip sat empty, with the lights changing from red to green to yellow for no one in particular.
While the victims themselves were probably tourists, the tragedy brought attention to people who weren’t. Hundreds of victims owe their lives to Vegas police, Vegas ambulance drivers, Vegas doctors, and Vegas nurses. It also emphasized (and, to be honest, exaggerated) the notion of a broader Vegas community. Blood donation appointments were booked for months following the tragedy. When I finally got mine in, I learned that I’m O-, and I’ve since become a regular donor.
One October, as we call it, also produced the slogan “Vegas Strong.” Soon, one could find it all over signs, bumper stickers, billboards, T-shirts, and, for some reason, a pair of dumbbells that I used to own. This slogan has disappeared in the subsequent years. Why? Probably just because, with each passing day, we get further from the event. That’s the most logical reason. However, part of me wonders if there’s another story. Anyone could wear a shirt with the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign or some archaic slogan about what happens here and stays here. “Vegas Strong,” on the other hand, signaled that the wearer lived in Vegas. Yet, in the coming days and months, another symbol would arise. We’d find another logo that people could wear (and do wear!) both in the city and elsewhere. A logo that would identify you as a current or former Vegas resident, rather than a tourist. That symbol would begin its triumph only five days later on October 6, 2017. But let’s back up a little.
Expansion Draft: Bad Team or Worst Team?
First of all, I know some people will find the preceding paragraphs a bit “cringe.” What does the mass shooting have to do with hockey? I wonder if these same people struggle to see the connection between the 1980 Miracle on Ice to the Cold War. In a purely logical sense, sure, I get it. The Berlin Wall didn’t come down because of some great saves from Jim Craig. Still, everyone watching the game would have understood the Cold War context. The same applies to the Vegas Golden Knights. During the team’s first home game, defenseman (and Vegas resident) Deryk Engelland gave a speech about the shooting. Afterward, the team projected the names of the victims onto the ice. At the end of the year, the Golden Knights would even retire #58 for the number of people killed in the One October tragedy. I wasn’t surprised by the decision, since so many fans wore a #58 (or #57) “Vegas Strong” jersey to the games. Nevada’s state motto is “Battle Born,” referencing our admission to the Union during the Civil War. The Golden Knights would be the “tragedy born” team, whether they wanted to or not.
Who were these Golden Knights, though? Owner Bill Foley unveiled the name in November 2016. There, he promised that they would make the playoffs by their third year and win the cup in their sixth. The name referenced his alma mater: West Point. The Army found this reference a bit too close. They sued, and the case was later settled out of court. Next, the Golden Knights needed some hockey players. As a new team, the Knights filled their roster through a process known as the “expansion draft.” Each NHL team “protected” either A) 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and one goalie or B) eight total skaters (i.e., non-goalies) and one goalie. This ruleset entitled the Golden Knights to (on average) a bunch of 8th-best forwards and 4th-best defensemen. One could create a playoff-caliber team from that talent pool. So, did they? Let’s check some headlines:
Vegas Golden Knights Are Going to Suck in 2017-18 and Here's Why
The answer was no. Commentators questioned whether the Golden Knights would be the worst team or just a really bad one. The squad began the season with 500-1 odds of winning the Stanley Cup. In comparison, oddsmakers give today’s worst team, the Anaheim Ducks, 150-1 odds of taking the 2024 Cup. What happened? Well, I could write a better explainer on String Theory than I could for how NHL transactions work. Long story short, though, the Golden Knights chose to optimize for future performance over present talent. They passed up on the best player in favor of ones that came with minor leaguers and draft picks. That third article sums it up nicely:
This team is going to be bad, potentially historically so. They’ll be bad for a few years. They won’t even be enjoyable to watch once the novelty of new uniforms wears off, not unless you consider 4-1 losses enjoyable. But this is the plan. They have many, many draft picks, and as much cap space as anyone, and seemingly the go-ahead from the owner to be patient. For now, being bad doesn’t matter, which is not a bad situation to be in.
A good example of this came from the Minnesota Wild. Quoting a contemporary account:
Minnesota was in a really tough spot with expansion… but Vegas let them off easy here […] [I]t also felt like the Wild had the most to lose with Eric Staal being one of the best forwards available and Matt Dumba being one of the best defensemen available. Giving up Alex Tuch – a fine forward prospect ranked 45th overall in Future Watch – didn’t feel like nearly enough to keep Vegas away from both those assets. They ended up with Erik Haula
The Knights passed two quality skaters in favor of Erik Haula and some minor league forward named Alex Tuch. Would Tuch amount to anything? We’ll see in a bit.
Still, the Knights landed some exciting players from the expansion draft. One highlight was three-time Stanley Cup Winner Marc-Andre Fleury. He didn’t play great in the previous two seasons, but he provided a better pedigree than anyone else on the roster. They also picked up noted goal scorer James Neal, though his best days seemed behind him. Besides that, the Knights mostly piled on decent players like William Karlsson from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Karlsson had shown his defensive mettle, but he wasn’t a guy you could depend on for more than about one goal each month.
Although fans criticized Vegas’ roster constructions, most agreed that they did not commit the most baffling move of the night. Somehow, one team managed to cough up two of their best players. From the same article:
Florida was the only team to lose two good players. It was the most baffling move of the night as the Panthers allowed Vegas to take Jonathan Marchessault in the expansion draft in exchange for unloading Reilly Smith on them as well. They lost two thirds [sic] of a scoring line in five seconds for nothing but cap relief. And I’m not sure they’ll use that money on a player better than Smith.
Hmm.. the Florida Panthers. Do they come up again in this story? Ah, yes, how could I forget: the Knights hired ex-Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant as their first head coach. Yeah, I think that’s it for the Panthers. I’m not sure if they do anything else of importance…
Year One: “There’s No Way They Are Going to be a Better Team…”
The Knights entered the year with Cody Eakin as their top center, Nate Schmidt as their top defenseman, and a past-his-prime Marc-Andre Fleury as their star player. Their best hope came from Russian forward Vadim Shipachyov, who promised to be one of the team’s best scorers. How did this 500-1 roster of rejects, has-beens, and minor leaguers perform?
Pretty well, actually. The Golden Knights jumped to first in the division, winning 26 of their 37 games in 2017. What happened? Did Fleury return to form? Nope, he got injured in the first handful and games and missed most of this run. Did Shipachyov live up to his potential? Definitely not. Disappointed with his performance, the Knights considered relegating him to minor leagues. The forward threatened to return to Russia if they did so. In the NHL version of “What are you gonna do, stab me?” the Knights sent him to the minors, and he returned to Russia.
Instead, the entire roster performed above expectations. They began to call themselves the “Golden Misfits.” They were the rejects. The players that nobody wanted. With this motivation, seemingly every player delivered one of the best performances of their careers Neal seemed to age backward. Formerly middling players like Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb, Erik Haula, and David Perron made their old teams look silly. Shea Theodore and that 45th-ranked prospect proved that they belonged in the NHL. The best performance, though came from their top forward line: Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith. When these three men skated onto the ice, they dominated all 200 feet of the rink. Other teams struggled to gain offensive possession against them, and they unloaded pressure on the opposing goalie.
That’s one narrative. Some analysts saw it differently. Rumors spread about the “Vegas Flu:” the idea that opposing players partied before their games against the Knights, and these parties hurt their on-ice performance. You can scoff at this, but I remember reading that some teams started to move their hotel bookings away from the Strip. This still wouldn’t explain how the Knights dominated on the road. Thus, some opted for a familiar Las Vegas story: luck. Vegas boasted an unusually high shooting percentage, which most analysts deemed “unsustainable.” Simple statistics indicated that, sooner rather than later, the party would stop. After the Kings’ second loss to Vegas, forward Drew Doughty expressed this sentiment in the most direct manner: “There's no way they are going to be a better team than us by the end of the season."
Nevertheless, the Knights sustained their unsustainable pace. The Golden Misfits finished first place in the division. Karlsson completed the season with 43 goals, after managing 18 combined over his previous three. The top line, Marchessault, Karlsson, and Smith, would take the league’s top three spots in plus-minus. That’s just the regular reason though. Every hockey fan knows that the real season, the one that separates the contenders from the pretenders, starts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Here, Doughty would earn the chance to prove his statement, as his Kings would face Vegas in the first round.
L.A. goaltender Jonathan Quick boasted the series’ most impressive performance. Reminiscent of his 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup run, he saved 94.7% of the shots he faced, allowing fewer than 2 goals per game. Unfortunately for him, Marc-Andre Fleury allowed one fewer goal in each of those games. The Knights swept the Kings, showing Doughty that there was some way they could be better at the end of the year.
Next, they faced the San Jose Sharks. The Knights always seemed to play chippier games with more after-the-whistle scrums against San Jose and Los Angeles. It was as if they were fighting for the legitimacy of our city against the dismissive California juggernauts. Then again, maybe they just fought more because they’re division rivals. The events discussed in the subsequent section will always overshadow this series, though I can mention some highlights. For one, it spearheaded the rivalry between Vegas’ midseason acquisition, Ryan Reaves, and Sharks forward Evander Kane. It also began the trend of the Sharks pulling goalie Martin Jones against the Knights. Finally, it featured a beautiful overtime game-winner from Karlsson.
After drowning the Sharks in six games, the Knights faced the Winnipeg Jets. It looked as if the Knights had finally met their match, at first. Vegas lost game one in Winnipeg, in a match where the Manitoban squad looked both too tough and too talented. Thanks to some excellent defense and goaltending, however, this would be the Knight’s only loss of the series. Ryan Reaves, better known for his fighting than his scoring, would deflect in the series winner. This was first goal with the team. The 500-1 misfits would play in the Stanley Cup Finals.
When the Raiders moved to Las Vegas, UNLV historian Michael Green compared it to the Dodgers’ western relocation:
“My point of comparison is with the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles,” said Michael Green, an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “To a lot of people in Southern California, it marked the city’s arrival.”
Don’t let these erudite observations fool you: Dr. Green is one of the funniest professors I took a class with. His point also makes a lot of sense. Adding a major sports team makes a city feel more complete. Personally, the Raiders didn’t complete me, but this trip to the Stanley Cup Finals did. TV broadcasts often transition from commercials with stock footage of the surrounding city. If a game takes place in New York, you’ll see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. If it’s in Seattle, you’ll see the Space Needle and Pike’s Place. I remember watching the Stanley Cup Finals and seeing the overhead shots of Hoover Dam, Red Rock, and Downtown Las Vegas. It’s a small dumb thing, but, for those brief seconds, it felt like the country was legitimizing us as a major city.
As for the series itself, it pitted the team of destiny, the Vegas Golden Knights, against the team with superior talent and experience, the Washington Capitols. In a fairy tale, the former would win. In the real world, well...
Vegas started out strong, scoring 6 goals in a chaotic game-one victory. Washington cleaned things up in game two, bringing a 3-2 lead into the final minutes of the game. With two minutes left, an awkward bounce sent the puck to Vegas center Cody Eakin. Eakin passed it to Tuch, who would shoot into a wide-open net. I thought I saw the puck enter the goal. I didn’t see any way that Capitols goalie Brayden Holtby could save that shot. Somehow, some way, Holtby stopped the puck with his stick. Holtby would stop every other shot in the waning minutes and the Capitols would hold onto the 3-2 lead. That image: a stick save at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in a Stanley Cup Finals, would remain burned in the head of Knights fans until something else would supplant it.
The Capitols won the next three games and raised the Stanley Cup in Vegas. Washington proved that they were tougher, smarter, and more skilled than Vegas. Fleury looked invincible in the first three rounds. In the finals, he looked like Martin Jones. The better team won the cup. Going forward, the Knights couldn’t depend on destiny. They needed a better roster.
Year Two: A Major Disappointment
The Knights began that year by signing free agent Paul Stastny, who would address the team’s faceoff struggles. They also traded minor-leaguer Nick Suzuki, a name you might want to note, for a prolific scorer Max Pacioretty. In other words, the Knights did not plan to “run it back.” They saw that gap between them and Washington, and knew that they needed better men on the ice.
Despite these improvements, the Knights proved that last year’s performance was, indeed, unsustainable. They rarely lead the division, and, at some points, looked like they would miss the playoffs. The Knights were who we thought they were, and teams weren’t gonna let them off the hook. As a result, this started a trend that the franchise remains known for. If they need to make a move, they made it. No one is off-limits. At the trade deadline, the Knights sent their top defensive prospect, Erik Brannstrom, to the Senators in exchange for forward Mark Stone. If you’re not a hockey fan, you’ve probably never heard of Brannstrom. If you are, you still probably haven’t heard of Brannstrom. He hasn’t panned out in the NHL. At the time, though, this looked like a huge loss for the Knights.
Stone quickly proved himself to be the best player on the roster. He shines on the defensive end, where pucks seem to magically gravitate from his opponent’s stick to his. On the offensive side, he’s a great passer, especially to his old nemesis: Pacioretty. Stone-Statsny-Pacioretty soon surpassed Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith as the top line. This trio brought them to third in the Pacific division, and they would face the Sharks.
The series inspired as much chippiness and fighting as the last one. Kane and Reaves finally dropped the gloves and fought after months of chirping. Even the coaches chirped, with Gallant referring to San Jose Head Coach Peter DeBoer as a “clown.” Vegas jumped to a 3-1 in the series. The Sharks took game 5 in San Jose, allowing the Knights to close the series out at home. When the Golden Knights earned an overtime powerplay in Game 6, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to close out the hated division rival. That powerplay would see a goal. Unfortunately, it occurred on the other side of the ice. A shorthanded goal would send the series back to NorCal for a decisive game 7.
The game began auspiciously for Vegas. They brought a 3-0 lead into the last 10 minutes of the game until something happened. Joe Pavelski, a recurring character in this story, fell headfirst into the ice. Blood spilled around his motionless body. Few saw what happened, including the four on-ice officials. After conferring, they seemed to engage in a bit of “Politician’s Fallacy:” 1) we need to do something 2) this is something 3) we need to do this. The “something,” in this case, was a five-minute major penalty against Knights forward Cody Eakin. Looking at the replay, the call didn’t make much sense. Eakin cross-checked Pavelski, sure, but it’s the sort of cross-check that occurs dozens of times every game. Besides, it was Stastny, not Eakin, who knocked Pavelski into the ice. Regardless, this put the Sharks on a five-minute powerplay. Most hockey penalties are 2-minute “minors.” If the non-offending team scores, the penalty ends immediately. You can score 5 seconds into the powerplay, and the penalized player still gets to leave the box right after that goal. Otherwise, the penalty ends after two minutes have passed. Major penalties work differently. The offending team must spend the entire five minutes with one less guy on the ice. The other team may score as many goals as they wish. And they wished for quite a lot.
Five minutes later, the Sharks found themselves up 4-3. Marchessault would tie it in the waning seconds of the period before some awkward positioning from Fleury would allow San Jose forward Barclay Goodrow to score the series winner in overtime. The Golden Misfits would exit in the first round. This comeback remains a franchise highlight for many San Jose fans. I can understand this, as the team has never won a Stanley Cup and once lost a 3-0 lead to Quick’s Kings. I say, let them have it. Yes, it was a bad call, but let’s not pretend the Knights didn’t benefit from bad calls in earlier games. Congrats, Sharks fans. One day, you may even return to the playoffs.
Year Three: “Save Demko”
In year three, the Knights added three key pieces to the roster. The first was Chandler Stephenson, who Vegas received for a measly fifth-round draft pick. Stephenson made little impact on the Washington Capitols. He didn’t manage a point when his squad defeated the Knights in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals. Yet, the Knights turned him into one of their top scorers. The next major addition came from the Kings: a gritty shot-blocker named Alec Martinez. The final and most pivotal additional was… eh, we need some additional context first.
Though Karlsson’s scoring outburst carried the Knights through their first year and Stone shined above the rest in the second, neither represented the face of the franchise. That was Marc-Andre Fleury. Fans loved his flair, his diving saves, his smile, and his heroics in the first three rounds of those storied 2018 playoffs. One can still find #29 jerseys throughout Clark County, and the front page of some charities still bears his image. If someone said “Golden Knights,” you thought of Fleury.
In 2019, Fleury’s father died. He didn’t play in the weeks after this tragedy and, even when he returned, you could tell that something wasn’t quite right. On top of that, the team just didn’t seem to click as well as it used to. As a result, Fleury faced increased adversity both on and off the ice, and it showed in his numbers. It might seem unfair that Fleury would lose his starting role due to a family tragedy. Unfortunately, the score sheet doesn’t ask why the puck entered the net. Something needed to change.
First, the Knights ended the tenure of Gerard Gallant. I will always appreciate what he brought to that first-year team, but it became clear that he couldn’t make the adjustments that winning teams need to make. The Knights replaced Gallant with the man he called a clown in last year’s season: Peter DeBoer. The clown would lead our circus.
Now we can return to that third acquisition. Here, we will meet our strangest character in the Golden Knights lore: Robin Lehner. If you asked me to fabricate a fictional foil for Fleury, I couldn’t have done much better than this guy. One would often find Fleury smiling and laughing. Lehner preferred a blank, intimidating, stare. Fleury was under-sized, Lehner remains one of the largest players in the NHL. Fleury liked to golf, Lehner practiced mixed-martial arts. Fleury exploited his athleticism and quickness to jump in front of opposing shots. Lehner didn’t move much, relying on his size and positioning. Fleury avoided controversy, while Lehner kneeled for the national anthem and once endorsed Trump on his helmet. Fleury didn’t say much to the press while Lehner voiced his struggles with bipolar disorder.
With these roster additions, Vegas racked up win after win. Nothing could stop the DeBoer's Knights. Nothing, except, you know, an international pandemic. The NHL shut down the league for four months, and some fans wondered if they would cancel the season. The league returned that summer, starting the playoffs in fan-less “bubbles” in Toronto and Edmonton.
Upon return, DeBoer needed to select a starting goalie. He opted for Lehner. After making this choice, Fleury’s agent released a cartoon in which the fan-favorite was literally stabbed in the back by DeBoer. Though we never saw any conflict between Fleury and Lehner, you don’t want to see something that divisive during a playoff run. Online fans sided with Fleury, and one can see Knights faithful scold DeBoer and Lehner to this day. This goaltending controversy proved overblown, however. The Knights’ issues occurred at the other end of the ice.
After an uneventful first round against Chicago, the Knights won three out of their first four games against the Vancouver Canucks. Then, some curse seemed to strike Vegas, and that curse would define DeBoer’s tenure as head coach. The goals dried up. Shot after shot seemed to fall harmlessly into the pads of Canucks’ goalie Thatcher Demko. We heard “Save Demko” so many times, that it probably still echoes through Alberta’s mountain ranges. Demko, hardly a star, shut the Knights down for six periods. Luckily, the Newtonian Canucks combined potent goalkeeping with an equallty impotent offense. A single Theodore goal (followed by two meaningless empty-netters) would prove enough to bury Vancouver in Game 7.
The Dallas Stars wouldn’t roll over so easily. They, too, would shut down Vegas’ scoring. However, their offense, one that included our old pal, Joe Pavelski, didn’t struggle as much as Vancouver’s. The Stars sent the Knights home in five games.
Year Four: Paying the Price
Entering their fourth season, the Knights traded original misfit Nate Schmidt in order to sign Blues Captain and Stanley Cup winner Alex Pietrangelo. They also named Mark Stone as their first captain. Owing to the short offseason, DeBoer started the campaign by alternating netminder duties between Fleury and Lehner. Fleury gained the confidence of his former backstabber. He would finish that season with not only the starting job but with his first Vezina Trophy, the award for the league’s best goalie. The goaltending issue was resolved. The scoring issue… not so much.
The Knights faced the Minnesota Wild in the first round, and their offense again seemed to disappear when it mattered most. They would win the hard-fought series in seven games. This didn’t bode well for the next matchup: the Stanley Cup favorite Colorado Avalanche. The Avs trounced Vegas 7-1 in the first game and took game two with an overtime winner. Then, for some reason, the offense seemed to wake up. The Knights won the next four and send the Avs packing. This earned them a matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. This Quebecois squad didn’t impress the oddsmakers, and Vegas opened the series as huge favorites. Many saw Montreal as a mediocre bunch carried by an all-time performance by goalie Carey Price. Based on what we saw against Colorado, the Knights should have cruised to the Stanley Cup Final. They did not.
Max Pacioretty struggled against his old squad, only scoring a single goal in the series. Meanwhile, Montreal forward Nick Suzuki excelled against the team that traded him. This remains the transaction that backfired against the Knights most directly.
“Save Demko” became “Save Price.” Once again, the Knights dominated the “shots on goal” metric but not the “shots in goal” one. Unlike last year, though, goaltending did become an issue. With under two minutes left in Game 3, Fleury flubbed a simple dump-in from Montreal. The fan-favorite coughed up an open-net opportunity to Josh Anderson, who would bury it and send the game to overtime. The team from Fleury’s home province would subsequently win that game and the series. Many credits this series to the heroics of Price. If Price was unstoppable, though, no one told the Tampa Bay Lightning. They would easily dispatch Montreal en route to their second consecutive cup.
Year Five: Losing Hurts
The fifth year featured the team’s two most dramatic transactions. Seeing the failure of the previous two seasons, the Knights knew that couldn’t win a cup with Stephenson and Karlsson as their top centers. They needed a true #1 center who could score or assists when it mattered most. They would find one, but, first, they need to clear some cap space. Fleury was browsing Twitter one morning and found out they did just that. He would begin his season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Next, the Knights would pursue Buffalo Sabers star, Jack Eichel. The Buffalo forward boasted elite speed, underrated defensive acumen, a good shot, and some of the best playmaking in the league. His only weakness was the lack of a functioning neck. The Sabers refused to approve Eichel’s preferred surgery, leaving him with no timeline to return. Vegas sent rookie Peyton Krebs, a first-round pick, and some 45th-ranked prospect named Alex Tuch to Buffalo in exchange for the Eichel. Most importantly, Vegas promised to let the center get whatever surgery he wanted.
Injuries defined the fifth season. Nearly every major player either missed time or played hurt. Even Eichel, after returning from surgery, didn’t look like the superstar that Vegas traded for. The offensive struggles continued. Game after game, I’d read comments about how well the opposing goalie played. Every single goalie, apparently, played the best game of their lives against us. Yes, I understand, even the worst NHL goalie is still one of the best goalies to ever play the game. Or he’s Martin Jones. Still, it began to sound like men who whine that every woman they date is crazy. The Knights agreed, and told DeBoer “It’s not us, it’s you.” DeBoer was fired, and Vegas entered year six, the promised year of their first Stanley Cup, without a head coach.
Year Six: Cup in Six
Luckily for Vegas, Boston also needed a breakup. They fired Head Coach Bruce Cassidy, and the Knights brought him on board shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, a new vacancy soon opened up. A back injury would knock Lehner out for the entire 2022-23 season. The goalie also declared bankruptcy due to his exotic snake farm in Missouri. You probably read that as “exotic snake farm in Missouri.” If so, you read it correctly. He went bankrupt from an exotic snake farm in Missouri.
This put Logan Thompson, a goalie with only a couple dozen games under his belt, at the helm. Left unimpressed with current backup, Laurent Brossoit, the Knights traded a 4th-round pick to the Sharks for Adin Hill. Readers may notice that this article has skipped transactions involving marginal players. CTRL + F “Nick Holden” or “Matthias Janmark” and the only sentence you’ll find is this one. Yet, I highlighted a backup goalie that the Knights acquired for a pittance. Keep that in mind.
The Knights burst to the top of the Western Conference in the first two months of the year. Vegas media started to discuss Thompson as a candidate for the Calder Trophy (i.e., the best rookie). Those discussions soon turned to his candidacy for the Vezina. Thompsons worked as an Uber Eats driver before signing with the Knights as an undrafted free agent. Thus, he brought with him a recognizable “misfit” vibe. Thompsons could be the last misfit. Or, at least, he could have been, if he didn’t suffer an injury halfway through his rookie campaign. He’d return a few months later, where he would re-aggravate the injury after two periods of play and miss the remainder of the season. Attention turned to Hill and Thompson, who suffered their own injuries. Over in L.A., the Kings pulled their own Fleury maneuver and sent a washed-up Quick to Columbus for cap space. Columbus soon shipped him to Vegas. The long-time division rival would now lead the Knights onto the ice.
The main storyline of this season wasn’t Cassidy’s new team, though. It was his old one. The Boston Bruins finished the season with the best record in NHL history. They would top the Eastern Conference as Cassidy’s current squad would top the West.
The Knights started the postseason against the Winnipeg Jets. Brossoit healed and he, the former Winnipeg backup, started in the net. Winnipeg fans taunted Brossoit by chanting “backup,” and that backup defeated their starter in both Winnipeg games. After a horrific game one, Vegas rattled four straight wins. This took them to the second round, a round that would not feature the Boston Bruins. Despite their vaunted regular season, the 8th-seed Florida Panthers took them down in a dramatic 7-game series.
Before this post-season, the last time anyone scored four goals in a playoff game was in 1993. Pavelski ended that drought with an impressive performance against the Seattle Kraken in game one loss. Hockey fans needed to wait 20 years between four-goal performances. For the next one, though the wait would be a bit shorter.
The next night, Vegas opened their series against the Edmonton Oilers. Analysts praised the Knights for their depth. All twelve forward, six defensemen, and four goalies could contribute. Edmonton, on the other hand, relied on two guys: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The latter would score four in his opening game against Vegas. Unfortunately for him, the home team scored six. In spite of his offensive burst, Edmonton lost game one in Vegas. Fans watched two different players score four goals on back-to-back nights. And they both lost.
Two events added some drama to the series. First, an injury would see Hill replacing Brossoit. The series also reunited Vegas with Evander Kane. The Edmonton forward didn’t miss a beat and continued his violent and chippy antics against Vegas. In fact, the series featured a ton of after-the-scrums and fighting. The Oilers enjoyed cross-checking Stone in his back, attempting to re-aggravate the injury that had taken him out the second half of the regular season. The Knights grew tired of this chicanery and decided to take action. After an otherwise uneventful empty net goal from Draisaitl, Pietrangelo whacked the forward’s hand with his stick. I felt bad for Draisailt, as he never participated in any of the dirty stuff. Regardless, the Knights needed to send a message. The Oilers received the message, although the Department of Player Safety did too. The Knight’s top defensemen would miss a pivot Game 5 in Vegas with the, with the series tied 2-2.
The Game started well for the Knights. They brought a 4-2 lead into the waning seconds of the third period. Our optimism ended, however, when Vegas forward Keegan Kolessar boarded an Oilers forward and received a five-minute major. Thus far, Edmonton dominated Vegas on the powerplay. They scored on the majority of power plays, and often in the first minute. You’ll recall from earlier that five-minute penalties don’t end after goals. If Vegas coughed up a goal every minute, the Oilers would put the game out of reach. In addition, the Knights would need to kill this penalty without their top defensemen. How many goals did McDrai manage? 3? 4? Nope, just one goal in five minutes with the man-advantage. They wouldn’t manage anymore at even strength. Vegas took the game 4-3 and, after game six, they’d take the series 4-2.
Cultural critics have criticized Hollywood for endlessly recycling characters and franchises. If you agree with this criticism, the NHL may not be for you. Just like two years ago, the conference finals would pit Vegas against Joe Pavelski and the Dallas Stars. This time, though, the hockey gods brought forth even less original content. On the opposing bench, Vegas fans could find our old friend Peter DeBoer.
Over in the East, the Panthers began their series with a four-overtime victory against the Carolina Hurricanes. Vegas and Dallas also went to overtime, though Knights forward Brett Howden was nice enough to end that one after only a minute and a half. Game two would return to overtime, and the Knights didn’t waste much time finishing that one either.
The Knights brought a 2-0 lead into Dallas. After an early Vegas goal, Dallas captain Jamie Benn suddenly, and without provocation, smashed Mark Stone’s head into the ice. A major penalty would provide the Knights with another goal, and they would cruise to a 4-0 victory. They took a 3-0 in the series, and that pronoun “they” could refer to a few different teams. All four conference finals across the NBA and NHL saw a team take a 3-0 lead. The NBA’s Western Conference and NHL’s Eastern Conference both ended after a four-game sweep. The other two proceded a bit differently.
Three periods continued to prove insufficient and the hockey’s Western Conference Finals headed to a third overtime. This one would also end pretty early with a goal by an obscure Dallas skater that I have yet to mention in this piece. Nah, just kidding. It was Pavelski. The Stars would also outplay Vegas in game five and win their second game of the series.
This occurred alongside a bad omen from the NBA. The logical part of my brain understands that the results of a basketball game cannot impact a hockey game on the other side of the country. The logical part of my brain, however, doesn’t watch sports. The Miami Heat also saw their lead dwindle from 3-0 to 3-2. In game six of that series, Miami lost on a buzzer-beating putback. Would that foreshadow game six of our series? No. What a stupid question. The Knights trounced the Stars 6-0, in their most dominant playoff beatdown until… well, we’ll get there. For what it’s worth (and it’s not worth anything), the Heat won game 7 and avoided the dreaded 3-0 comeback.
Vegas advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. There, they would face the Florida Panthers. That’s where those guys return to the story. Florida represented the team of destiny. They had the worst record among playoff teams and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky found himself on a career-defining run. Who wins when the team of destiny faces the team with better talent and more experience? I answered that question earlier in the article.
Game one entered the second period tied at 1. A savvy zone entry from the Panthers left Panthers forward Nick Cousins with an unmissable tap-in. Hill had other ideas. He saved the shot with the blade of his stick, in the same spot Holtby made his miracle save five years before.
The Knights’ duo of Marchessault and Eichel would dominate the rest of the game, which ended 5-2 in favor of Vegas. The next one proved less dramatic, finishing 7-2 in favor of the Western Conference Champions. The teams then split the two contents in Florida. Thus, the series returned to Vegas for a game that could bring the first major championship to the city.
Cassidy usually started the fourth line, Kolesar-Roy-Carrier, along with the top defensive pair: Pietrangelo-Martinez. For game four, he decided to start the top line of Barbashev-Eichel-Marchessault. In the potential Cup-clincher, though, he started the game with unusual personnel. Cassidy sent five “original misfits” to start game five. Marchessault, Karlsson, and Smith hadn’t played on the same line in months, but they would be reunited, if just for one shift. Theodore and McNabb would protect the blue line. Cassidy’s sentimental decision sent a message to Florida. This isn’t a hockey game. This is a coronation, and the Panthers just happen to own front-row seats.
This game still feels surreal. As I describe it, it sounds more like a dream than an event that involves flesh-and-blood Homo sapiens. Vegas opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Captain Mark Stone. The teams would split the next two goals, and, then, in the second period, something happened in that arena. Vegas scored a third goal, then a fourth, then a fifth, then a sixth. The second period would end 6-1 in favor of Vegas. The third period amounted to a formality. Still, that formality saw Stone earn a hat trick, and Vegas break the franchise record for most goals in a game. The home team finished off the Panthers with a 9-3 victory. Marchessault, the guy Florida left unprotected, held the Conn Smythe award as the post-season MVP. Hill, who we obtained for some loose change, finished with the best save percentage in the playoffs. Vegas earned the Stanley Cup in year six, just as promised.
Conclusion
Why did I write nearly seven-thousand words about grown men playing a kid’s game? For one, I write about whatever interests me. I think that, even behind a screen, even thousands of miles away, readers can feel the difference between a passionate piece and a placid one. Secondly, though, I want to showcase the drama of sports. I think too many allegedly sophisticated people dismiss the topic as silly, tribal, and even violent. I don’t think these individuals understand the background that underlies each season’s final contests. The story of Golden Knights probably features more drama, suspense, disappointment, betrayals, and fascinating characters than the latest serialized TV show, the hottest fetch-quest RPG, or those Hugo-nominated Social-Issue-In-Space books. When I watched the Golden Knights lift the Stanley Cup, it didn’t feel like winning a competition. It felt more like finishing a terrific novel. I just hope that it’s a novel with a few more chapters.
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