Ladies and gentlemen, the Vegas Golden Knights are 21 days away from puck drop. Three weeks from now, fans will gather around the newly minted Paramount+ Plaza (can't say Toshiba Plaza anymore) and cheer on the incoming Golden Knights. Then? It's time for some Chelsea Dagger as the Chicago Blackhawks roll into town.
In the meantime, it's time to celebrate a certain wearer of the number 21. That's right, peeps, we're covering the man who took over the Stanley Cup playoffs goal-scoring-wise last season. The man on the mind? Why, that's none other than Brett Howden.
The regular season might've been a bit of a falling-off for the forward. After all, he scored 12 goals and 10 assists, down from his stellar 2024-25 campaign (23 goals and 17 assists). But he turned it up in the Stanley Cup playoffs, scoring 14 goals. That was good enough to lead the NHL during that tenure, putting Vegas within two games of their second Stanley Cup.
Now that's quite awesome. But his dominance in recent years has come against a particular team. Now, I know what you're thinking.
"Against San Jose, right?"
Actually, that's incorrect. The Golden Knights forward hasn't even done his heaviest damage against a Pacific Division team. Instead, it's come against a team from the other Western Conference division. We're talking about the Central Division, with a particular team shooting up the ranks in recent years.
How Brett Howden became the worst nightmare of the Utah Mammoth
The moment that Brett Howden became problematic for the Mammoth was when he fired off a ridiculous backhanded shot against Utah. Of course, this was when they were aptly known as "The Utah Hockey Club." Still, Howden fended off Utah defenders left and right to shoot an absolute beauty to get Vegas an extra point on November 2, 2024.
What's more is that Howden had an assist in that game as well. In fact, he has four goals and an assist in his last three games against Utah. Ironically, one of those goals happened to also be a game-tying goal, which happened in Game 4 of the First Round.
Perhaps his biggest dagger came a game later in double overtime. Mind you, this was a shorthanded goal after Eichel almost scored on a mishandled puck by MacKenzie Weegar. After the ensuing faceoff, the Golden Knights worked in the offensive zone when Howden fired off the game-winner.
It's safe to say that the forward has developed into a clutch performer. That's especially true when you look at his playoff stats from this season. The former New York Ranger scored an NHL-best 14 goals during this season's Stanley Cup playoff run.
Of course, he did it against a team that he's given loads of trouble in the past two seasons. Without Howden, the Golden Knights would struggle against the Utah Mammoth/Hockey Club. That's something that Golden Knights fans don't want to see, especially when said Central Division team is an up-and-coming squad. Trust me, you don't want to hear the end of it from them!
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