By the Numbers: Everything’s coming up Golden Knights

With a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, the Vegas Golden Knights completed a season sweep of the best team in the Eastern Conference. On top of that, the Golden Knights improved to 30-11-3 and reached 30 wins in the fewest games ever by an NHL expansion team (44).
 

Despite starting a fifth-string goalie at one point this season and having a roster made up of expansion draftees with many expiring contracts and players thought to be add-ons or throwaways in trades, nothing has been able to derail the most surprising team in the NHL.

Facing a Stanley Cup finalist? No problem. The Golden Knights are 12-3-0 against teams who have made it to the Cup Final in the previous five seasons.

And with last night’s win, the Golden Knights improved to 19-1-0 when scoring first this season, the fewest losses when scoring first of any team in NHL.

The Western Conference’s best team continues their road trip in Florida against the Panthers on Friday and with a win, Vegas would be tied with the Lightning for most points in the NHL this season.

The Golden Knights have 30 wins so far in their inaugural NHL campaign and are four wins shy of the record for most in an expansion season with 38 games to go.

The 1993-94 Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim currently hold the record with 33 wins.

And the Panthers are very proud of this record. Hanging high above the rafters at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida a banner reads, “Most Successful All-Time First Year NHL Team: Most Wins, Most Points”, but the Golden Knights are well on their way to wiping that from the record books.