The Flames are extinguished in a 6-2 Golden Knights blowout victory

Thursday night had all the makings of a classic trap game. The Golden Knights have been rolling to start the season, entering the matchup 6-2-0 overall. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames were coming off just their first win of the season, starting 1-6-0 over the same stretch. Between Vegas' usual dominance of the Flames in our barn and Calgary finally getting some confidence via an upset win over the Ducks on Tuesday, I had a bad feeling about this one.

As it turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Vegas stomped the gas pedal from the start with Brett Howden scoring just 25 seconds into the game, and never let up, holding the lead for nearly the entirety of regulation and utterly running away in the third. Needless to say, the Flames were extinguished thoroughly, with their first win unable to translate into any sort of momentum.

So much for those offensive troubles

This past offseason, much was made of Vegas' possible offensive struggles heading into this season. After all, we shockingly traded leading goal-scorer Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers just prior to the draft, and at least outwardly, didn't do a whole lot to replace him. GM Kelly McCrimmon instead made a big bet on Brett Howden continuing his ridiculous playoff scoring, Trevor Connelly breaking out, and the newly re-signed Victor Olofsson filling in the rest.

And, like most of McCrimmon's bets, it's paid off, because of course it has. Through nine games, the Golden Knights' 36 goals-for lead the entire league, with four different Golden Knights already at the four-goal mark just nine games in. Olofsson, as hoped, was filling the gap prior to his injury, potting four goals through four games, while the aforementioned Connelly has three goals and five points to start his career.

As it stands, 14 of Vegas' 20 skaters this year have scored at least one goal, with 18 of 20 recording at least one point, including all 13 forwards to see the ice. Among some more shocking bits are Tomas Hertl's resurgent season, with seven points in his first nine after a disastrous stretch to end last year, and Brayden McNabb somehow having five assists; for the record, he had seven all of last year, in 63 games played. Under new coach Ryan Craig, the Golden Knights' depth has done exactly what it's designed to do, and that bodes extremely well for the rest of the season.

Mark Stone, take a bow

Another day, another incredible performance for the Captain. Remember what I said just now about Golden Knights at the four-goal mark? Well, Stone hit that and then some against the Flames, recording a natural hat trick in the third period alone to put the game to bed.

It's the second regular-season and third overall of Stone's career, following his classic Game 5 cup-clincher and one against the Predators in 2024. It's also VGK's first of the season, and a nice little complement to his Gordie Howe Hat Trick against Seattle just a few games ago.

Next up, the schedule gets a little tougher, as Vegas finishes out the homestand with games against an always-dangerous Penguins and a Lightning team that's on fire as usual. Go Knights go!

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