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The first 20 games of the Golden Knights’ existence have been pretty surprising for an expansion team - Vegas sits at 10-9-1 with an opening night 1-0 win over Nashville, and big wins over the Kings & Blackhawks in the first quarter of the season.
The team has been getting contributions across all lines - Jakob Silfverberg leads the team with 13 points, and is tied with Evander Kane at 6 for the team lead in goals. Silfverberg is shooting an eye-popping 18.8% to start the year, so some regression might be in store for him, but it’s definitely worth noting that all of his points have come at even strength. T.J. Brodie leads the team with 9 assists, and the biggest surprise might be Jordan Subban’s 2-6-8 line in his first 12 NHL games ever, not to mention the strong possession numbers P.K.’s younger brother has been showing (3.55 GF/60 v 1.78 GA, 34.6 SF/60 v. 24.3 against) Subban hasn’t played in all 20 games, as Coach Luke Richardson has been cycling through his 7 defensemen and trying to keep them all fresh - a good idea with the way the injury bug has bit this team early on. Evander Kane, Kevin Shattenkirk, T.J. Brodie, & Adam Henrique have all missed time due to various nagging injuries, but the team has been happy with the work the younger, less-heralded players have been giving.
Coach Richardson is running a defense-heavy scheme with a conservative offense, leading to the higher percentage shots and less risks being taken offensively, and focusing on disciplined defensive play from his young d-corps. Richardson has had high praise for goalie Antti Raanta so far - even surprising most observers by going with his gut and naming Raanta the opening night starter. Antti has repaid his coach’s faith to the tune of a 7-4-1 record with 2 shutouts, a 2.24 GAA, and .918 save percentage - numbers necessary due to the struggles out of the gate for Craig Anderson (3-5-0, 2.93, .893).
Taking a tour around the league, the teams are getting used to a new wrinkle in the standings this year - the league has gone to a new scoring system for wins! Teams will receive 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime/shootout win, 1 point for an overtime/shootout loss, and 0 points for a regulation loss. The league’s reasoning was to give teams incentive to pull out a win in regulation and add some drama to the late season playoff race. So far this year, Chicago has made the most of that new rule, with 14 of their 15 wins coming in regulation and the team racking up 44 points in their first 18 games, including a 12-0-0 record at home! Sidney Crosby carried a scoring streak from the 2016-17 season and ran it up to 19 straight games with a point before being held scoreless; but that’s been a rarity for the Kid this year, as he’s rung up 17 goals and 30 points already. Drew Doughty leads the league in assists at the quarter pole, with 20, and Corey Crawford’s 13 wins and 5 shutouts have carried the Blackhawks to their hot start.
We’ll check back with Vegas at the halfway point of the season - let’s see how the team reacts to its injuries, and if some of their early season surprises can keep up the pace!
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