Vegas Golden Knights show what they are made of on successful road trip

Look back through any season for any team and you can always pinpoint a defining moment or stretch. We could be looking at one right now for the Vegas Golden Knights.

After going a less than stellar 5-6-3 in November, the Vegas Golden Knights entered December rapidly losing ground in an ultra competitive Pacific Division and with a plethora of questions to face.

However, it is amazing how quickly things change in sports and, at the end of the first week in December, the Golden Knights are in a pretty sweet spot right now.

They’ve just pulled the curtain down on a three-game road trip on the east coast, going 2-0-1 after beating both the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils, before losing to the New York Islanders in overtime on Thursday.

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The Knights took five points from a possible six from three games in four days, which is a fantastic return for any team.

And it was especially important for Vegas who have appeared sluggish for much of the season, with a lack of secondary scoring and an average defense hindering their progress.

But we learned a lot from this road trip and I get the sense that we could look back at this three-game swing as defining come the end of the season.

Because, and while the Rangers are rebuilding and the Devils just generally stink, it is never easy going on the road and winning but that’s exactly what the Golden Knights did.

And, despite losing to the Islanders last night, they pushed one of the best teams in the NHL all the way and did what they had to in order to salvage at least a point from the contest, which is the hallmark of a good team.

Let’s not forget either; the Knights were also missing Marc-Andre Fleury for the majority of the road trip with the future Hall of Famer away from the team on personal leave following the sad passing of his father.

But up stepped Malcolm Subban who, having struggled in the early stages of the year, had a point to prove and he did so emphatically.

Subban played a major role in the Golden Knights winning four straight prior to the loss on Thursday, and he also stood on his head against the Islanders at times.

Certain other players are also starting to get hot too. Alex Tuch, who has endured an injury-ravaged start to the year, has absolutely come alive on this road trip and has seven points (four goals, three assists) in four games, while Jonathan Marchessault has potted four goals in two points.

It is the overall body of work produced by this team over the last three games that is really impressive, though.

They came out flying against the Rangers and never took their foot off the gas, they were dominated early by a Devils team trying to impress an Interim Head Coach but regrouped and came back to win the game, and then there’s the game against the Islanders where the Knights were again put under large spells of pressure.

But, like they did against New Jersey, the Golden Knights stood up to the test and hung on in there, taking the game to overtime and securing a point for their efforts.

Next. Making a case to give Malcolm Subban more starts. dark

There were a plethora of questions hovering over this team coming into December and, although there is still work to be done, they’ve answered a lot of them.

And, with an impressive franchise record of 22-4-5 in December, the Vegas Golden Knights are starting to heat up at just the right time and they could look back at this road trip as the moment that sparked their season into life.

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