Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights are riding a historic run to the Stanley Cup Final.

How impressive is the expansion team's season? Watch above to see how the Golden Knights are setting records in their inaugural campaign. 

           

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The Vegas Golden Knights are on their way to the Western Conference Final of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs following a 3-0 Game 6 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Golden Knights are the third franchise in NHL history to win at least two playoff series in their first season.

Golden Knights fans had to sit through a nervy first period before Jonathan Marchessault gave Vegas the lead six minutes, 33 seconds into the second period. Nate Schmidt added a second before Cody Eakin eliminated any doubt with his third-period tally.

Naturally, many reacted to Vegas' rapid rise in its inaugural campaign:

I’m old enough to remember when the Vegas Golden Knights didn’t even exist and now they’re in the conference finals what a time to be alive

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) May 7, 2018

Congrats to the Vegas Golden Knights and their long-suffering fans.

— Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) May 7, 2018

Between UMBC and the Vegas Golden Knights, we have one heck of a battle for underdog story of the year taking place.

— Chris Fallica (@chrisfallica) May 7, 2018

The expansion Vegas Golden Knights are going to the NHL Western Conference Finals. If they end up winning the Cup this year, I’m convinced this is the greatest team accomplishment in North American sports history. Even getting this far is up there already. This is absurd.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 7, 2018

ESPN The Magazine's Emily Kaplan spoke to winger Ryan Reaves about what has clicked so well for the Knights to help them exceed expectations in 2017-18. Reaves discussed how the players have fostered an "us against the world" mentality.

"The whole roster is full of guys whose teams said 'We don't want you' or 'We want other players more,'" he said. "It's a bunch of guys who are hungry. And they all can play."

Winning a Stanley Cup—or simply reaching the Stanley Cup Final—would be one way for the Vegas squad to gain a measure of revenge against any general managers who discounted the players' abilities.

The Golden Knights now await either the Winnipeg Jets or Nashville Predators in the conference final. The Jets are up 3-2 and host the Predators for Game 6 on Monday night.

The Vegas Golden Knights may be playing in their inaugural season, but the NHL's latest expansion team finds itself as the co-favorite to hoist the Stanley Cup.

According to ESPN.com's Emily Kaplan, Vegas and the Nashville Predators are tied for the best odds at 4-1. Nashville made it to the Stanley Cup Final a season ago, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

With a record of 51-24-7, the Golden Knights have set a handful of records in their first season in the league. They just became the first NHL franchise to record a postseason series sweep during their inaugural season by taking down the Los Angeles Kings in four games, which also made them the first team to advance to the second round this year.

No expansion team has reached the Stanley Cup Final since 1967-68, with the St. Louis  Blues making it in each of their first three seasons. They were swept by the Montreal Canadiens in 1968.

Perhaps the biggest reason Vegas finds itself among the favorites is that it has Marc-Andre Fleury protecting the net. The 14-year veteran piled up plenty of playoff experience during his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning the Cup three times.

Vegas awaits the winner of the Anaheim Ducks-San Jose Sharks series in the Western Conference Semifinals. While the Knights breezed through their first playoff series, they still have three more opponents standing in their way as they try to make even more history.

The Vegas Golden Knights became the first NHL expansion franchise to sweep a playoff series in its debut season following a 1-0 victory to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night at the Staples Center.

Arash Markazi of ESPN.com provided comments from Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who recorded 31 saves for his second shutout of the series.

"You guys remind us or tell us about those records, but it's not something that we talk about or shoot for," Fleury said. "All season long, I didn't know any records about expansion teams. We just do what a regular team would. We just play the game and try to win. That's it."

Vegas' official Twitter account, which has often equaled the team's on-ice entertainment value, joked about the franchise's meteoric rise:

Started with no players now we here 😎

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 18, 2018

The Golden Knights' immediate success was a shock. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook listed the expansion team at 200-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup in August, double the next-highest teams, in its 2017-18 opening lines, per ESPN.com.

OddsShark notes Vegas is now the favorite to win the championship (+470) after it breezed past the Kings, who've won the Cup twice in the past seven years.

Dynamic center Jonathan Marchessault said the fact that the team was overlooked helped add motivation for its inaugural campaign and makes the moment special, per Markazi:

"It feels great. All of us, we came in with a chip on our shoulder, and we're just looking at the next game ahead of us. When we play right away, I think we can go far, but we cannot look too far right now. We've got to look at the next game and be able to cash in the rest that we're going to have here and be ready when the second round starts."

The Golden Knights advanced to face either the San Jose Sharks or Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference semifinals. The Sharks lead that series 3-0, with Game 4 set for Wednesday night.

The Vegas Golden Knights are giving new meaning to the term "sweet taste of victory." How did the Bellagio Hotel celebrate the Golden Knights' first playoff berth? Watch above to see the making of a 120-pound chocolate statue.

     

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The Vegas Golden Knights honored the 58 victims of an Oct. 1 concert shooting before Saturday's game against the San Jose Sharks, hanging a banner in T-Mobile Arena to recognize those who lost their lives:

The 58 will always be with us #VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/FwT0HOH3uS

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 1, 2018

Saturday was the final home game of the regular season for the Knights, and the banner reading "Vegas Strong" featured one star for each of the victims of the shooting that occurred at the Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas.

According to NHL.com, the Golden Knights also announced the No. 58 would be retired as part of the recognition.

Gary Lawless of the Golden Knights' official website noted owner Bill Foley, general manager George McPhee and defenseman Deryk Engelland stood with the family of Neysa Tonks, a victim in the shooting, as the banner was raised.

"It just really shows the community how dedicated we are and how involved the team is in the community," Foley said. "The 58 stars are going to be there forever. You can see there were people crying in the stands, a few tears in my eyes as that banner got raised."

Vegas won 3-2, moving to 50-22-7 on the season.

The Golden Knights have clinched the Pacific Division and a spot in the playoffs despite being a first-year franchise. They blew past the record for wins in an inaugural season; the Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks had 33 wins in 1993-94.

During the daytime hours, kids played street hockey and a giant team-branded Jenga game at what would eventually become ice-level. As it pushed into night and the families left, live music replaced the kids' games and workers from the Strip entered. Some came after their shifts, some before.     

The open house—a chance for those who had bought Vegas Golden Knights season tickets (or were considering it) to check out the team's T-Mobile Arena—began at 8 a.m. on Feb. 21 and didn't end until 8 a.m. the next day.

The event was definitely uniquely Las Vegas—a three-shift festival for the NHL's new three-shift market.

It was also a harbinger. The Vegas Golden Knights knew how to sell their game in this most nontraditional of hockey locations.

The team estimates that 9,000 people wandered in and out of its open house that day and night (...and day), kicking off an incredible first season in which the Golden Knights have become one of the NHL's leaders in attendance at 103 percent of capacity (fourth in the league, according to ESPN) and maybe more surprisingly, in wins (most in the Western Conference).

24 hours later, our Open House is over. We would like to thank the more than 9,000 fans that attended. You guys are the best! #BoldInGold pic.twitter.com/8p5qzXI0o8

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 22, 2017

Team president Kerry Bubolz tells Bleacher Report that the team knew right away that aggressive marketing campaigns like the 24-hour open house had succeeded in finding a market for the NHL in Vegas.

The Golden Knights were over capacity before the season began. "We didn’t know we were going to have the type of team on the ice that we have," he says.

What was less clear at that point was how the crowd was going to be made up. Bubolz says sales of season tickets were 90 percent local, but that a secondary market for locals selling to visitors has become popular, thanks to the destination element of Vegas.

"That could be a couple thousand people per game—but this is Las Vegas, and so we certainly understand why someone in Boston or Philadelphia or Chicago who wants to see their team on the road, why they would want to pick Las Vegas as a destination," Bubolz says.

For now, the team is embracing having the fans from what Bubolz calls "historical" NHL brands that generally play in colder cities. He says it has even created a fun back and forth at some games between the Golden Knights faithful and the opposition that enhances the team's home-ice advantage.

"These are the most ardent fans in those visiting-team markets, and they know how to cheer on their team, so they come into our building and our fans take it personal and they're not going to be outdone" he says. "so as soon as one little chant breaks out, our crowd just overwhelms them with, 'Go Knights Go,'

"It has turned into one hell of a home-ice advantage for us. It has been fantastic. It has made for like a playoff atmosphere literally every game."

The result is the NHL's best home record—19-2-2—which only serves to increase home-fan support.

The home record has also prompted talk of what some have dubbed the "Vegas Flu"—the idea that opposing players might not be at the top of their games in trips to Las Vegas because they're out partying the night before.

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/947574611155156992

The house always wins 🙌

The Golden Knights are 18-2-1 at home, and haven’t lost at @TMobileArena in regulation since 11/28

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) January 8, 2018

The idea has been embraced by some in the media and by the team itself, but many around the game scoff at the notion that the losses at T-Mobile have anything to do with how players spend their time in Sin City.

"I think it's just teams underestimating them and the fact that they have basically a team full of second- and third-liners, and they're all going to work hard for playing time," says Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, whose team is 0-1 in Vegas this season.

Don Logan, team president of the Las Vegas 51s, a Triple-A baseball team that's played in Vegas since 1973, agrees.

"I've been around hockey enough to know that they're very regimented in their approach, a hockey team is. They practice at specific times. They take a nap before they play games. They eat together as a team. They do their film work as a team," Logan says. "It's a very regimented sport in that, so to think that the plane shows up and bus drops the guys off at the hotel and they all just go crazy, I don't believe that.

"You're a major league athlete. You can't perform to the best of your ability if you haven't gotten enough sleep or if you haven't eaten properly."

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, whose team lost 6-3 in Vegas on Tuesday, backed up that sentiment, going as far as to say Saturday that he hoped his players would loosen up a bit in their trip Vegas.

Torts on #CBJ players having fun in Vegas “I want them to go out. Playing guilty is a big part of being a really good player in the [NHL]. We don’t do that anymore. Heaven forbid! We have agents, and their whole entourage making sure u drink that carrot juice, and all this stuff"

— Steve Gorten (@sgorten) January 20, 2018

If players have been avoiding the city's temptations, as they say, and with the Golden Knights' success—it goes a long way to calming any worries other sports have had about putting a team in Las Vegas. Maybe it's even provided a roadmap for the Raiders to follow in their move, which is expected to happen by 2020 at the latest, when their new stadium is complete.

"It's just different. There isn't any place like Vegas," says Logan. "Whether the Raiders are coming here or the Chargers are coming here, ... the dynamics that are going to have to come together to make it work are different than any other market in the country."

And should the Golden Knights be worried about what happens to their own success when they're no longer the only pro sports team in town? Bubolz says no.

"We're in the business of promoting this community, and if the NFL and the Raiders coming here is good for the community, then we're on board with that," he says. "I also think the NFL is a significant additional spotlight that's going to shine on this community that the NHL right now wouldn't bring, because it's a different spotlight, so it's additive. So we're very much on board and supportive of everything that's happening, so we're excited about that."

There are also, of course, differences between the NFL and NHL. The NFL has eight regular-season home games while the NHL has 41. The NFL has greater revenue than the NHL, as well as more fans in the United States. Also, the Raiders are an established national brand, while the Golden Knights are an expansion team whose motto is "Vegas Born," which gives them more of a local flavor.

In a lot of ways, Vegas made sense as a relocation spot for Oakland. The Raiders brand is already strong in Vegas and the location is an easy travel destination for Raiders fans from Oakland or Los Angeles (another previous Raiders home) who want to spend a weekend in the area for games.

"What I see with the Raiders is certainly, because we are such a diverse community, we have a huge—not small or medium or large—but huge fan base ... right here and of course, access is tremendous to the West Coast," Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman says. "People could live and stay in Oakland and still come down here because of the numbers of flights and ease to get back and forth."

Though the Golden Knights have become a sensation in the NHL, they still have a long way to go to become a stable franchise. And there are some factors that do still make the area questionable. According to Station Index, Las Vegas is the 42nd-biggest T.V. market in the United States, and according to the most recent census estimates, the Vegas metro area had 2.15 million residents as of 2016, which ranked 29th in the country.

Building tourists into the ticketing models could hamper the Golden Knights in the long run, too.

"The Vegas Golden Knights are enjoying a perfect storm resulting from the confluence of two events," explains Vanderbilt University sports economist John Vrooman. "First, the honeymoon period for an expansion franchise in a nontraditional hockey market like Vegas is usually about three seasons. Second, the home attendance in a nontraditional hockey market like Vegas is extremely sensitive (highly elastic) with respect to the quality of the team on the ice."

In fact, Vrooman says, Vegas' success in ticket sales is likely to be even more tied to its success on the ice than other nontraditional hockey markets, because the impact of tourists and corporate ticket sales can't be counted on long-term and the city doesn't have the same type of steady economic pillars as other NHL cities. 

But for now, the area is riding a wave of momentum that's fueling hope beyond just the NHL and NFL. The WNBA's Las Vegas Aces will start play in May after relocating from San Antonio, and the Las Vegas Lights United Soccer League team will open play this year.

This is, in many ways, realizing a dream that former mayor Oscar Goodman, husband of current mayor Carolyn Goodman, had in the early 2000s, when he started lobbying pro leagues to come to Las Vegas.

"I'm very optimistic and just think everything is going to work great," Carolyn Goodman says.

It's certainly off to the right start.

The Vegas Golden Knights are having their nickname challenged at the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.  

Per ESPN's Darren Rovell, the United States Army filed a challenge to the appeal board, arguing the Golden Knights' nickname is associated with the Army. 

"Army says it has used the Golden Knights name since 1969 in connection with its parachute team and with recruiting," Rovell wrote, "and that it owns 'common law rights in color scheme black+gold/yellow+white.'"

Las Vegas was awarded an NHL expansion franchise in June 2016. Five months later, the franchise announced its nickname as the Golden Knights.

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley told ESPN's Scott Burnside in December 2016 the team's nickname is different from the Army parachutists who use the same name:

"Our development and use of the name Vegas Golden Knights was based upon Nevada being the largest gold producing state in the country and the golden tones of the Las Vegas strip.

"Our use of the Golden Knights is distinctive from the Army Golden Knights just as the N.Y. Rangers are distinctive from the Texas Rangers or the Arizona Cardinals are distinctive from the St. Louis Cardinals."

Rovell noted last September the Army raised an objection to the team trademarking the Golden Knights nickname, and the notice of opposition cited a TSN tweet quoting Vegas general manager George McPhee specifically citing Army's Golden Knights as an inspiration. 

"We were going to be the Black Knights, but we already had the Blackhawks in the league, so the league was trying to get us to come up with another name, so another name used at West Point is the Golden Knights for the parachute team," McPhee said. 

The Vegas Golden Knights used the pregame ceremony at their inaugural home opener Tuesday night to honor the 58 victims of the mass shooting that occurred at a Las Vegas music festival on Oct. 1.

The team relayed video of the ceremony at T-Mobile Arena, which featured first responders escorting players onto the ice:

Hockey players are being led onto the ice by the real heroes. #VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/TuB4uiOeAG

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 11, 2017

ESPN.com's Charles Moynihan reported the victims' names were "emblazoned on the ice" before the puck was dropped against the Arizona Coyotes, with NHL on NBC sharing an image of the puck drop:

Tonight's ceremonial puck drop is conducted by survivors of the Las Vegas tragedy. #VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/TLy3goBq6L

— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) October 11, 2017

ESPN.com's Arash Markazi noted there was a 58-second moment of silence to honor those who lost their lives.

There were 58 seconds of silence before tonight's Vegas Golden Knights game for the 58 victims of last week's mass shooting in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/UF1LK2R4fk

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) October 11, 2017

Furthermore, Markazi noted the team opted not to show advertisements on the side boards and instead had those spaces filled by the words "Vegas Strong."

"Needless to say it's not going to be a typical opener," Golden Knights general manager George McPhee said before the game, according to the Las Vegas Sun's Jesse Granger. "We'll save that for Friday. (Tonight) is not about us: It's about honoring and remembering the victims, and supporting the families and recognizing the first responders."

The Golden Knights went on to beat the Coyotes 5-2, with the team sharing video of the celebrations inside the T-Mobile Arena:

How a healing city gets back on its feet!#VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/VR8gBfAHmx

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 11, 2017

Vegas is now 3-0-0 to start its inaugural season.

The Vegas Golden Knights and the NHL announced on Tuesday a joint donation to support victims of Sunday's mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Per an official release from NHL.com, the donation of $300,000 will be used in an effort to help "victims of Sunday night's mass shooting in Las Vegas and the first responders who have worked fearlessly and tirelessly from the moment tragedy struck."

The NHL also announced teams and players would honor victims during opening-week games by helping to organize "pledge drives and other ventures" in support of Las Vegas. 

Tuesday's announcement from the NHL comes two days after a gunman opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival at the Las Vegas strip that killed 59 people and injured another 527, per ABC News. 

The 2017-18 NHL season begins on Wednesday with four games on the schedule. The Golden Knights begin their inaugural season on Friday with a road game against the Dallas Stars. Their first home game at the T-Mobile Arena is on Oct. 10 against the Arizona Coyotes.