Vegas Golden Knights are the NHL’s road warriors
The Vegas Golden Knights are racking up records in their inaugural NHL season, including their newest: most road wins.
The Golden Knights aren’t messing around.
Nearing the end of their inaugural season, and with the postseason in their near future, the Golden Knights have been collecting records the way most people in Vegas collect all-you-can-eat shrimp at the buffet.
With their 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, the Golden Knights set a new NHL record for the most road wins in an inaugural season:
With today's win, the Golden Knights set an @NHL record for most road wins by a team in its inaugural season 👏#VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/Zko0eNZ3i8
— 🏆 - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 10, 2018
Vegas has gone 20–12–3 on the road so far this season. Prior to 2018, the team with the most road wins was the 1993-94 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, with 19.
But Vegas’ home record hasn’t been too shabby this season, either: 24–7–2. That’s even with a recent skid that saw the Golden Knights drop four of five, thanks largely to injuries to Nate Schmidt, James Neal, Reilly Smith, Luca Sbisa and Oscar Lindberg.
Schmidt’s return to the lineup Saturday after he missed four games with an upper-body injury was a boon to Vegas’ win over Buffalo. He played more than 25 minutes.
The road wins record isn’t the first that Vegas has broken this season.
On Feb. 1, the Knights broke the record for most wins by an expansion team in its inaugural season with 34.
And with their 84th point on Feb. 21, Vegas broke the record for points by an expansion team in its first season.
Vegas is currently in first place in the Pacific Division, with 93 points — virtually untouchable. The Golden Knights might even be able to catch the Nashville Predators (97 points) for the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed.
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Even if the Golden Knights fall apart in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, this season can’t be thought of as anything less than an incredible success for this expansion team composed of cast-offs and bottom-six players.
Of course, if Vegas can get healthy in the coming weeks, there’s an ever-growing chance this red-hot team keeps it rolling in the desert.