The Vegas Golden Knights are only entering their 10th season. Still, with three Stanley Cup Final appearances and one championship, there have been plenty of opportunities to make enemies and create some amazing rivalries. As one of the most disliked teams in the league, the organization is often questioned by many in the hockey community about its operations and its success since its inception.
However, it goes without saying that despite the dislike, the Golden Knights indeed have their own issues with players and teams across the league. Today, we’d like to revisit one of the team’s top rivalries, this one featuring Joe Pavelski. The 18-year NHL veteran played with the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars, crossing paths with the Golden Knights in some of the franchise’s more famous playoff moments.
Pavelski is one of many hockey stars to torment the Golden Knights
According to statistics on NHL.com, former Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar has the most points against the Golden Knights, with 44 points in 39 regular-season games. Meanwhile, Connor McDavid has the most playoff points, with 16 in 11 meetings. Third overall in postseason points against Vegas is Pavelski, who had 14 in 32 contests, a fascinating contrast to his regular season production, which ranks 122nd, with 11 points in 17 games.
The Pavelski and Golden Knights rivalry began early, in the 2018 playoffs, when Vegas and San Jose met in the second round. It took six games, but the Golden Knights advanced to the Western Conference Final in a series that featured three shutouts and two overtime games. Although Logan Couture had seven points, Pavelski chipped in three for his first playoff points against the expansion team.
However, things heated up in the 2019 playoffs when these two Pacific Division rivals met again. The Sharks grabbed a 1-0 series lead before the Golden Knights rattled off three straight wins, including a 5-0 Game 4 victory to push San Jose to the brink. Interestingly, Pavelski scored the series' first goal, and with his season on the line, he tallied the final goal in Game 5 to ensure there would be another game. Although he was pointless in Game 6, he became a focal point in the winner-take-all Game 7.
The cross-checking major penalty heard around the world
At the SAP Center in San Jose on April 23, 2019, the fate of the 2018-19 Golden Knights season forever changed in the third period. Up 3-0 just four minutes into the third period, the Sharks were roughly 16 minutes away from their season ending when Cody Eakin picked up a five-minute cross-checking major for catching Pavelski in the face at 9:13, busting him open.
On the ensuing power play, which lasted an entire five minutes, San Jose responded with four power-play goals at 9:20, 10:09, 12:53, and 13:21 to take a 4-3 lead. Thankfully, Jonathan Marchessault gave Vegas fans hope with his last-minute goal at 19:13, but in the end, Barclay Goodrow ended the game two minutes into overtime. Eventually, the NHL came out and said they had made a mistake on the major penalty, but by then it didn’t matter; the season was over.
Once a rival, always a rival
After the incident in Game 7, Pavelski played only six more playoff games that year, when the Sharks lost to the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Final. The next time Pavelski would play a postseason contest against the Golden Knights was as a member of the Dallas Stars in the 2002 bubble playoffs at Rogers Place in Edmonton, where he scored a goal in a 5-3 qualifying game loss.
One month later, the Stars and Golden Knights would meet in the Western Conference Final, where Dallas prevailed in five games, with Pavelski chipping in a goal and an assist in a low-scoring series. Their paths could cross again three years later, once again in the Western Conference Final, when Vegas extracted a measure of revenge with a series win in six games. Up 3-0 and looking for a sweep, Pavelski was the reason the series went past Game 4, scoring the overtime winner on May 25, giving the Stars hope. Although Dallas may have won Game 5, they were shut out 6-0 in Game 6.
In their final postseason meeting, during a 2024 first-round series, Pavelski was pointless in seven games as the Stars eliminated the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Eventually, Dallas would lose to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final, with Pavelski skating in his last game on June 2, 2024.
Although he never scored the most points or even recorded a hat trick against the Golden Knights, Pavelski will always be tied to the organization for being on the wrong side of a bad call by NHL officials. Many often wonder how far Vegas could have gone in the 2019 playoffs if they hadn’t lost Game 7, based on one call. But because Pavelski had the knack for timely playoff goals, his rivalry status only grew from his departure from San Jose to his arrival in Dallas. Of course, there are bigger names who torment Vegas on an annual basis, with Pavelski holding a special place all his own.
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