After setting an NHL record for most consecutive wins to start a season by a reigning Stanley Cup champion, the Vegas Golden Knights begin a stretch that sees them play five of their next six games at home, starting Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Golden Knights improved to 6-0-0 with a 5-3 victory at Chicago on Saturday, breaking the mark for longest season-opening win streak by a defending Stanley Cup champion held by the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers in 1985-86 and also the Ottawa Senators in 1920-21.
With a favorable schedule that includes home games against the Flyers, Chicago, Montreal, Winnipeg and Colorado and a road date against the Los Angeles Kings, the chance to break the NHL record for most wins to start a season of 10 — set by Toronto in 1993-94 and tied by Buffalo in 2006-07 — would seem to be a real possibility for Bruce Cassidy’s squad.
Vegas broke the record for a start by a defending champion thanks to a strong third period at Chicago that spoiled Connor Bedard’s home debut.
The game was tied 2-2 when Nic Roy scored 13 seconds into the third period to put Vegas ahead for good. Mark Stone and Paul Cotter followed with goals to make it 5-2 before Chicago’s Corey Perry ended the scoring with just 15 seconds left.
“I enjoy all our wins to be honest with you,” Cassidy said of the record-breaker. “I don’t read too much into the start. It is a nice sort of thing to accomplish. It’s not going to mean much in January.”
Vegas went 13-2-0 to open the season last year en route to a Western Conference-best 111 points.
“At the end of the day, you play to win,” Cassidy said. “Our guys enjoy winning and we knew after two periods that we were going to have to be better if we expected to win, and I thought that we responded well.”
Philadelphia enters the contest leading the Metro Division with a 3-1-1 start. The Flyers, who finished seventh in the Metro last season with just 75 points, come in off a 5-4 overtime loss at Dallas on Saturday.
Philadelphia trailed the Stars 4-2 midway through the third period before Travis Konecny and Sean Walker scored short-handed goals just 47 seconds apart to tie it. Joe Pavelski scored in overtime to win it for Dallas.
Konecny also had a short-handed goal in the first period to become the seventh player in Flyers history to score multiple shorthanded goals in the same game and the first since Simon Gagne (2008). It was just the fourth time in franchise history that Philadelphia scored three short-handed goals in a game.
“We just stayed with it,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “You’d like to get both points. But we just stayed in the game, handled some of the momentum swings and found a way to get back in and tie it.”
Konecny said low preseason expectations have helped fuel the team’s surprisingly strong start.
“I think right from the start of camp, nobody has really credited us for anything,” Konecny told NHL.com. “We’re just working hard, coming to the rink every day trying to get better, and work together as a group. Things are going well so far and we’re going to continue to stick with it and try to prove people wrong.”
–Field Level Media
