The Vegas Golden Knights have a habit of getting off to hot starts throughout the years. They've gone on extensive winning streaks, handling their business and stacking points early. It's led to six Stanley Cup appearances in the first seven seasons, making matters easier for the franchise. Life's good when big names like Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault pull their weight.
While there have been some hiccups in specific areas (looking at you, VGK power play), the team has enjoyed consistent success early. What's more impressive is they've done this with different head coaches, whether it's Bruce Cassidy or Pete DeBoer. No other franchise can boast about being a bastion for starting the season right. Yet, the Golden Knights have made this into a habit.
Let's do a little exercise on the best starts in franchise history. However, we can't just go with any stretch of games of varying lengths. There aren't enough seasons for a top-ten list, so let's look at the best of a shortened history. There must also be consistency in this formula. There would be mass hysteria if it scattered all over the place. Structure is the key to life, especially when assessing how a team opens the regular season.
So let's go with 15 games as the cutoff. That way, each start can be fairly assessed in an organized fashion. After all, everything should be perfectly balanced as this list will show you. So which were the best starts in Vegas Golden Knights history? What was the ensuing outcome of these stretches? Let's dive further into the numbers and see the hottest starts in Golden Knights' history.
7.) 2018-19: The Vegas Golden Knights have their only sub-.500 start in 15 games
The start of the 2018-19 season wasn't the kindest to the Golden Knights. They had their only sub-.500 stretch in the first 15 games (6-8-1). They also had their only loss in a season opener, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2. Of course, Vegas only played five Western Conference teams in that stretch, which explains the shoddy record. Still, the Golden Knights made the playoffs, only to lose to the San Jose Sharks in the first round in seven games.
6.) 2019-20: The start that didn't stand out
This stretch didn't stand out for the Golden Knights with a record of 8-5-2. They went 1-1-2 during a four-game home stand from October 25 to November 2, 2019. Their record would've held up better if they had performed against teams like the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens. Still, Vegas turned the ship around after Gerard Gallant was fired, making the Western Conference Final in the COVID bubble.