Vegas Golden Knights set record for teams in their first year

The Expansion Team from Las Vegas, Nevada Now Has 84 Standings Points on Their Way to a Playoff Berth and Did it in a Unique Way.

With their win over the Calgary Flames Wednesday February 21, 2018 the Vegas Golden Knights improve their record to 40-16-4 which is the best in the Western Conference.

At this point in the season with over 20 games left they have already set the record for an expansion team’s points.  They are well on their way to a playoff berth as the last clinching team in the division, the Flames are 13 points behind them.  You get 2 points for a win, 0 points for a loss and 1 point for an overtime loss.  In the 7-3-win itself, Alex Tuch, Ryan Carpenter, William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Luca Sbisa, Erik Haula, and Cody Eakin all had a goal.  Tuch had an assist and a fight which made his first “Gordie Howe Hat Trick”, which consists of a goal, an assist, and a fight.  Marc-Andre-Fleury stopped 28 of 31 shots on his way to his 20th win as a Golden Knight.  Sbisa also got his 100th career point with his late second period goal. 

Vegas came to birth as a hockey town in June 2017 when the Expansion draft was held.  The Golden Knights could draft many high-potential 2nd-3rd-line forwards based on the protection rules of the rest of the teams.  The rules are that the 30 other NHL teams could protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and one goalie, or 8 total skaters and one goalie.  Vegas must choose one player from each team.  First and Second-Year Players were exempt from the draft. They came up with some huge additions including 30-goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault and Western conference champion James Neal.  In the NHL draft, they had three selections within the top 15 selections. This created a lot of what plenty of teams do not have, depth.  They currently are the best team in the Western Conference with Young talent yet to show what they can do.  Vegas could be a very dangerous team for years to come.