The Vegas Golden Knights are on the brink of their 10th regular season game in franchise history. As a welcome to the NHL, many were predicting a struggle this year for the expansion team.
This was a team, after all, that was building not necessarily for the 2017-18 season, but for success in the future, as evidence by the number of draft picks general manager George McPhee was able to secure through the various trades during the offseason.
Here we are, nearing the end of October, and the Golden Knights, with a roster mostly assembled on one highly anticipated summer evening, still have only a single loss, which was on Oct. 13 against the Detroit Red Wings.
Since then, they’ve nabbed five straight wins, including against St. Louis and Chicago, and 12 of a possible 14 points on this historic seven-game home stand.
They have improved their record to 8-1, which keeps them a point back of L.A. in the Pacific Division.
Their latest win came Friday. Win? No, this was an absolute rout, as they defeated the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 7-0. After a scoreless first period, the Golden Knights erupted for four goals in the second and then completely embarrassed the visitors with three more in the third. And they did so on just 21 shots, making for a miserable night for Semyon Varlamov.
Varlamov remained in net for each goal against.
At the other end of the rink, the Golden Knights have still been successful without Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban in the lineup. Both netminders are on injured reserve, which has forced Vegas into going with the goalie duo of Oscar Dansk and Maxime Lagace, prompting questions about whether this team could still continue to win given this situation.
So far, so good.
Dansk stopped all 32 shots he faced Friday for the first shutout in Vegas Golden Knights history.
The Golden Knights now head out on the road for six games through the Eastern Conference. It begins Monday against the New York Islanders and includes a pair of back-to-back games.
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Cam Tucker is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @CamTucker_Sport.