Let's begin with a little love and appreciation for the man behind the bench (and above this paragraph). With Saturday night's 6-2 win over the Seattle Kraken, Bruce Cassidy tied Gerard Gallant for most wins by a coach in franchise history with 118. There's the consistency in the team's performance since he was hired in June 2022, which the TV broadcast mentioned. And which also applied to his last job with the Boston Bruins. Check out his point total for each of the six seasons he was there.
2016-17: 37 points 2017-18: 112 points 2018-19: 107 points 2019-20: 100 points 2020-21: 73 points 2021-22: 107 points
The only blemishes came due to the covid pandemic shortening the 2020-21 season, and learning the job on the fly after replacing Claude Julien in February 2017. In short, it's a beautiful thing that can be easy to overlook. Given how the seat under most coaches can become quite toasty in the blink of an eye (hello, Peter Laviolette). So, here's to a couple hundred more VGK wins (starting tonight against Anaheim) with coach Cassidy's stoic male Dua Lipa vibes behind the bench.
Also, on a separate note, how amazing would it be if Bruce Cassidy and Gerrard Gallant starred in a production of The Odd Couple? It might just be in my head. But Cassidy as Ralph and Gallant as Oscar... seem low-key brilliant somehow, given how they address the media.
Anyway, an interesting little factoid caught my attention late in the third period of Thursday night's 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Well, it's interesting enough to start the debut edition of the Knightcap, anyhow. The Vegas Golden Knights are tied for first in the league this season with 10. Who is the other team we're tied with here, you might be asking? That'd be the St. Louis Blues.
Who do you trust?
Now, it'd make sense to look at this and get at least a bit nervous being associated with a team on their second coach of the season and 13 points behind in the Conference standings. But if you look at it closely, there's a lot to be encouraged. Well, as much as you can get encouraged by a statline. Let me explain...
Of those 10 wins, seven were against certified playoff/Stanley Cup contenders (Minnesota, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Utah HC, and Dallas), with only the Winnipeg game as a comeback win. The remaining three wins were against teams (Anaheim, St. Louis, and Philadelphia) with sub-.500 records and very thin, if any, playoff chances. And in those three games, it was only against Philadelphia where the VGK had to come back from a second-period deficit.
In terms of the Blues, at first, there are a lot of similarities: six wins against playoff contenders (Carolina, Boston, Tampa Bay, Calgary, Vancouver, and the NY Rangers), four wins against sub-.500 teams with very little/no chance at the postseason (San Jose twice, Seattle, the NY Islanders). Then the difference pops up with a closer look brighter than the Sphere at midnight. They nearly lost the lead in each of those 10 games, outside of Calgary and the Isles. You can't say that at any point of those 10 wins for the Golden Knights.
The moral of this journey of a story that was true against Vancouver: Trust in Adin Hill. And trust in Ilya Samsonov, when Good Ilya Samsonov arrives like he did Saturday night against Seattle (after the first three minutes, anyway).
But what about Ivan Barbashev?
Finally, let's talk a little bit about Ivan Barbashev who looks set to miss his third game Monday night against Anaheim. Not with any breaking news, of course. Much like the plot to 28 Years Later, when he'll come back remains shrouded in mystery. To save many hours searching ESPN or Sportsnet or your social media of choice, I propose a way to inspired by the noble hobby that is role-playing games (or RPGs).
Take a couple of dice (doesn't matter how many sides each one has) and you just...roll it. If you roll even, the injury won't be too bad, he'll be back soon and things offensively will continue humming along for the VGK just as we've seen all this month. If you roll odd, all is gloom and doom and--well, see Mark Stone last season.
After a half-hour on either option, take a deep breath and relax till the next day when you do all this again till you roll even and then st op. Or if you roll even the first time, just stop and treating that as your opinion. 'Cause this world could use a little more hope and optimism filtered into it. It is why the Knightcap's here, anyhow...!