Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Analysis:

Ranking the Golden Knights’ 10 best wins of the season after a major coup

Golden Knights’ 5-3 win over Lightning takes top honors

Stone

Isaac Brekken / AP

Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone, right, celebrates with left wing Max Pacioretty after scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, in Las Vegas.

Alec Martinez tried to jump but instead knee-planted into the ice. Mark Stone grimaced and swung haymakers with Deontay Wilder-esque force into the air. Ryan Reaves shouldered into the glass like a hard-hitting safety.

Intentional or not, the Vegas Golden Knights’ celebrations after scoring goals in Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning were over the top. And why not?

In the middle of the regular season, there’s never going to be a more celebratory occasion than battering the prohibitive Stanley Cup favorite and blighting their NHL season-high 11 game win streak.

“There’s a reason why they were there,” Stone said. “They have high-end talent. It’s a big win for us.”

That somehow undersells a victory that drove the Golden Knights to tying a season-high four-game win streak and put them in first place in the Pacific Division.

Big win? Nah. Biggest win.

The Golden Knights showed they can not only beat but blow away anyone in the NHL when they’re at their best and further validated the fortune-changing nature of their current run with new coach Pete DeBoer’s systems now fully in place.

The 82-game, six-month regular season can be grueling and unconducive to looking back to past successes but it’s a triumphant place in time for the Golden Knights right now so let’s forget all that and give in. The Lightning win stands alone as the best of the season, but what other victories belong alongside it?

Here’s a countdown going through one opinion of the games that make up the rest of their top 10 wins of the season.

10. November 19, 2019 — 4-2 against Toronto

This is the Maples Leafs’ loss that got coach Mike Babcock fired, which knowing what’s known now about his abusive behavior towards players, makes it enough to merit inclusion on this list alone.

But the Golden Knights also had big moments of their own. They scored twice in two minutes midway through the third period right after the Maple Leafs tied the game at 1-1. Later, Marc-Andre Fleury made his best save of the year by diving across the crease to rob a Nic Petan wrister.

9. November 27, 2019 — 4-3 in overtime at Nashville

The Golden Knights didn’t play that well at Bridgestone Arena, getting out-chanced and outshot against a slumping Predators team, but no one’s going to remember that — and for good reason. In terms of pure memorability, this win could stake a claim as the top choice.

Max Pacioretty scored with .3 seconds left on the clock to tie the game in regulation, and Paul Stastny made sure the miracle wasn’t in vain with an early overtime goal. The win propelled Vegas to its first four-game win streak of the season.

8. February 17, 2020 — 3-2 against Washington

DeBoer said he could tell the Capitals came out angry and determined earlier this week. They had lost three of their last four and were suddenly at danger of ceding the first-place spot in the Metropolitan Division that they had held all year.

It didn’t matter; the Golden Knights could take one of the best teams in the league’s best shot and still win. A pair of late T.J. Oshie goals made the victory a little less clean, but that hardly matters given the history between these two franchises that squared off in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

Any Golden Knights’ win over the Capitals is meaningful going forward, and they’ve now beaten the perennial power two straight times at T-Mobile Arena.

7. February 6, 2020 — 7-2 at Florida

For the second time in five days, on a post-All-Star Break road trip with a relatively new coach who admitted all his systems still weren’t fully in place, the Golden Knights outclassed a decent opponent.

Stone had his second five-point game as a Golden Knight, with Max Pacioretty chipping in three points, to finish off a Southeastern road trip with a 3-1 record. Vegas dropped the next two games after this win, but looking back, the Florida outburst was an omen of its current run.

6. November 17, 2019 — 6-0 against Calgary

From a purely scoring margin perspective, this was the biggest win of the season.

It also served as a tourniquet, stopping the bleeding from a five-game losing streak that had inflicted some early panic locally. Fan-favorite William Karlsson had two goals and may or may not have scored again ever since.

5. October 19, 2019 — 3-0 at Pittsburgh

Yes, the Lightning and Boston Bruins are the current favorites to win the Stanley Cup in local sports books but the Penguins are slowly creeping up into the same rarefied air. They’ve separated themselves as the 9-to-1 third choice at Circa.

Few teams have beaten Pittsburgh the way Vegas beat it this year in what was likely Fleury’s best performance of the season. He haunted his old team, snagging 29 saves and showing he could still be at the top of his game in his 16th NHL season.

Fleury has gone on to encounter some struggles, but showings like the one in Pittsburgh should give Vegas fans hope that he may still be capable of turning into the stonewall he was in the 2018 postseason.

4. January 4, 2020 — 5-4 in overtime against St. Louis

Let this be the way the end of coach Gerard Gallant’s tenure with the Golden Knights is remembered instead of the ensuing four-game losing streak that led to his firing.

Gallant’s final win on the Vegas bench was a doozy as he inspired the team to overcome a 3-0 first-period deficit. That’s not supposed to happen against anyone, let alone the defending Stanley Cup champions.

3. October 2, 2019 — 4-1 against San Jose

Sure, it looks a little less impressive in hindsight given San Jose’s season-long ineptitude, but nothing can match the emotion in T-Mobile Arena on opening night when the Golden Knights exacted revenge for last year’s controversial playoff ouster.

Stone and Reilly Smith scored in the opening six minutes, and a Sharks’ comeback felt impossible. Vegas also went on to beat San Jose 5-1 on the road two days later, but the first game was even more lopsided statistically.

Then-San Jose coach DeBoer may not have fond memories of this one, but it was a highlight for almost everyone else in the locker room.

2. February 13, 2020 — 6-5 against St. Louis

Scratch the whole thing about the sequel never being better than the original.

In a game reminiscent of the same matchup a month earlier, the Golden Knights managed an unlikely comeback to top the Blues in overtime again. This time, Vegas trailed 4-2 early in the second period before igniting behind an offensive onslaught.

The Golden Knights held a 52-24 shots-on-goal edge, as opposed to 33-31 in the first game. Jonathan Marchessault had the game-winner that kickstarted the current win streak — a win streak that makes all sorts of future celebrations appear possible.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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