Vegas Golden Knights: Analyzing brutal start to the regular season

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LAS VEGAS, NV – FEBRUARY 20: Paul Stastny #26 of the Vegas Golden Knights shoots the puck during the third period against the Boston Bruins at T-Mobile Arena on February 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Vegas Golden Knights hockey is officially a week away from returning and we are literally all in for it.

After a long off-season followed by a competitive Training Camp and a surprisingly enjoyable preseason so far, we are more than ready for the Vegas Golden Knights to get the 2019-20 NHL regular season underway on Oct, 2 against the San Jose Sharks.

However, given we are so close to the return of proper hockey now, we took a look at the schedule and those first two weeks in October looks absolutely brutal. Let us repeat; absolutely brutal.

The Knights open the regular season with a back-to-back double header against the San Jose Sharks, before taking on last year’s Stanley Cup finalist in the Boston Bruins, a road game against Phil Kessel and the Arizona Coyotes before returning home to take on the Calgary Flames.

Now, there are other tough games on the slate in October, including matchups against the Nashville Predators and the Colorado Avalanche, but we thought we would focus on that opening two weeks for now given how tough it looks.

We will be doing a deeper dive on the October schedule in full next week but, for now, we are going to take a brief look at the opening two week slate for the Vegas Golden Knights…

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 24: Brenden Dillon #4 of the San Jose Sharks turns as he is chased by Kiefer Sherwood #64 of the Anaheim Ducks during the first period in a preseason game at Honda Center on September 24, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

1. San Jose Sharks – Oct, 2 & Oct, 4

The Vegas Golden Knights open their 2019-20 regular season at the T-Mobile Arena against bitter rivals the San Jose Sharks before heading to the SAP Center two days later, and it is the perfect matchup in which to open the new year.

We don’t need to repeat what happened between the two teams in the postseason last year given we’ve covered it countless times already, but there is plenty of animosity between these two franchises and, with points on the line, sparks are going to fly.

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The Golden Knights have enjoyed a decent preseason so far and they look set to carry some momentum into the regular season. Plus, with the first game of this back-to-back double-header being Vegas’ home opener, they will want to put on a show for their fans at what will be a packed T-Mobile Arena.

However, the Sharks will be a contender again this year despite losing key pieces such as Joe Pavelski during the off-season. They did bring back the likes of Erik Karlsson and Joe Thornton, though, and they also have a deep roster where a number of their role players can do damage.

Both games are going to be physical slugfests and look out for Ryan Reaves and Evander Kane dropping the gloves at least twice over the course of the two matchups. They really don’t like each other and they will be looking for any excuse to lay a beating on each other.

Tomas Hertl had his fingerprints all over the Knights in the postseason and he’ll be one to keep an eye on next week too, as will Logan Couture who will be wearing the “C” on his jersey for the first time.

Despite having an aging roster, this Sharks team is still loaded and talented and they pose an extremely tough start to 2019-20 for the Golden Knights, who will no doubt be satisfied if they are able to split the back-to-back.

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