2. Why the Vegas Golden Knights Healing Up Matters
The Edmonton Oilers are coming in red-hot, rattling off 16 straight victories before the All-Star Break. What's more, Edmonton has played five fewer games than the Vegas Golden Knights. Now it isn't expected that the Oilers will win the rest of their games. After all, that'd be an impossible feat. However, winning with a depleted roster has given Vegas some wiggle room in the standings.
It also helps that the Los Angeles Kings COMPLETELY fell off the face of the earth. I'm talking about only winning two of your last 16 games. That sort of catastrophic collapse has given the Knights more breathing room in the playoff standings. It's also given teams like the Seattle Kraken new life, leaving them only two points back.
With Vegas getting the most out of their hodge-podge squad, keeping the team standing has worked wonders for them in the playoff hunt. Now, they can focus on getting home-ice advantage for the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Believe me when I say T-Mobile Arena isn't a friendly place to be this year: The Golden Knights have a home record of 18-5-2 in 2023-2024.