No Olympians, no problem for the Golden Knights in wild post-break victory over the Los Angeles Kings

Everything was set up for this to be a rough one. With all five of the Golden Knights' gold-medal-game Olympians being given an extra rest day on Wednesday, Vegas trotted out an absolutely brutal lineup against the Los Angeles Kings: three full-time AHL players, Keegan Kolesar on the first line, and multiple injury returns likely to deal with some rust. What could go wrong?

When also considering the fact that superstar winger Artemi Panarin was set to make his Kings debut after his acquisition earlier this month, the Golden Knights' objective looked to simply be "survive."

And yet, this crazy team flipped expectations on their head yet again, as it was instead the Kings who found themselves on the ropes down the stretch. In what's possibly Vegas' least-likely victory of the season, let's delve into how this hilariously makeshift roster pulled it out.

Tanner Laczynski has the game of his life

While there were many unexpected heroes for Vegas tonight (which we'll get to later), none were more unexpected nor more impactful than AHL call-up Tanner Laczynski. The Henderson Silver Knights regular had just two assists in nine games this season entering this game, which actually doubled his NHL career total up until this point.

However, the depleted lineup bumped him up to the second line between Reilly Smith and Pavel Dorofeyev, and the man with the skis emoji capitalized, assisting on half of Vegas' goals for the first three-point game of his career. While unconventional, his first assist came on a wild two-on-one alongside Dorofeyev, where his missed shot ricocheted off the endboards and right onto the stick of Dorofeyev from a tough angle:

The second assist came on a chip up the boards in the third period, directly leading to Reilly Smith's beautiful split-the-defense goal, while the final one was yet another Dorofeyev snipe on a series of rebounds Laczynski refused to give up on.

To put it all in perspective, after doubling his career assist total this season from two to four, he nearly doubled it again in a single game. Somehow, he didn't get a star of the game nod, but in total, what a night for the longtime minor-leaguer. He's definitely entrenched himself as the de facto 15th forward at this point, and perhaps even higher than that given his abilities at center.

It's always the people you least expect

Aside from Laczynski, several other unheralded Golden Knights had huge games. It's no secret that Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith have had tough seasons, while Colton Sissons has been rather quiet much of the year. Not just did all three score on Wednesday, but within approximately four minutes of each other, rocketing the Knights from a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 lead midway through the third period. Smith's goal in particular was an absolute beauty, with the veteran slicing through two Kings defensemen to do it all himself:

Aside from them, Braeden Bowman and generally low-scoring defenseman Brayden McNabb also picked up multi-assist nights. Even Adin Hill himself recorded one despite a tough night in net, being credited with the secondary assist on Sissons' goal. On a far more expected note, Pavel Dorofeyev posted yet another multi-goal game, with his second goal set the new franchise record for power-play goals in a season at 15.

All in all, what nearly amounted to a Henderson Silver Knights lineup decisively defeated a playoff hopeful in the Kings, in LA's barn, despite Artemi Panarin having a multi-point night in his debut. What a way to come out of the break, and I'll see you all in-person in Washington, D.C. on Friday!