
(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
At the end of the NHL regular season when teams are planning for the postseason or the golf course, it’s unlikely for the players, coaches and managers to huddle around and go over how they reached their fate. For losing clubs, it’s a quick clean out of their lockers and get out of dodge to their summer destinations. For the fortunate 16, they’re preparing for a potentially long run in the playoffs. However, for prognostication purposes, it is important to note how successful teams got to their ultimate goals.
After last night’s 2-1 OT victory over the hapless Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas extended their Western Conference best record to 41 points. It wasn’t the prettiest, but a win is a win when fighting for a seat in the playoffs.
When you break down how the Golden Knights picked up their points, you’ll notice that they’re taking care of business when facing lesser competitors. This is exactly what all playoff hopefuls do throughout a long 82-game regular season. Call it bum slaying, padding stats, or anything you’d like but those points are vital to any team fighting for the postseason.
Points from Non-Contenders: (22)
- 10/13: VGK 1 vs CHI 0
- 10/25: VGK 4 @ SJ 2
- 10/28: VGK 4 vs ANA 0
- 11/03: VGK 5 @ OTT 4
- 11/05: VGK 6 @ MTL 4
- 11/10: VGK 7 @ BUF 4
- 11/17: VGK 4 vs ARI 1
- 11/21: VGK 5 @ VAN 4
- 11/23: VGK 4 vs OTT 1
- 11/28: VGK 3 @ CBJ 2
- 12/03: VGK 4 @ DET 1
- 12/08: VGK 2 vs PHI 1
Now to be fair, the Golden Knights have not taken advantage of all low-level opponents. Vegas lost three times to inferior lineups, all occurring at T-Mobile Arena. For the most part, all three were uncompetitive and the Golden Knights lost by a total of eight goals. In the trio of games, the road team scored two or more goals that went unanswered by Vegas. It’s okay to have a stinker but several at home vs sub .500 teams are wasting VGK fans’ hard-earned money. Thankfully, Jonathan Marchessault didn’t let that happen again last night in OT.
Missed Points From Non-Contenders (6)
- 11/12: STL 3 @ VGK 2
- 11/15: SJ 5 @ VGK 2
- 11/26: VAN 5 @ VGK 1
For Vegas to keep up their 104-point pace they’ll need continue bullying inept franchises crashing for Connor Bedard. Half of the teams in the NHL have roster weaknesses and are capable of exposing on a nightly basis. Through 29 games, the Golden Knights have jumped on mistakes, ill-timed penalties, poor goaltending, and turnovers. It’s been the team’s identity all season under coach Bruce Cassidy. In addition to their 22 “bum slaying” points, Vegas will have 15 more opportunities against the league’s worst to cushion their conference and divisional lead.
Now of course the NHL is a professional league with incredibly skilled players. Even the worst organizations have the ability to defeat star-studded lineups. Just ask the Boston Bruins, who lost to the Arizona Coyotes last night in Arizona. That’ll wake up a team. Hopefully, not by Sunday evening.




THE hockey God
Those bad teams all have one thing in common – they all play on bad ice
knights fan in minny
fake posters have one thing in common they all have shit for brains like you pussy boy
Joseph
So, what do we do with this information Jason?
Cheer for somebody else? Make sure we always add the line “you know, just because they’re in first place doesn’t mean they’re really very good”.
Speaking I guess for myself, I would rather just enjoy the games.
If others want to seek the dark center of the silver lined cloud, well Vaya Con Dios.
Alex
This guy is 100% right
knights fan in minny
look its alex the 100 percent ass clown
TS
Joseph, Thanks for some common sense. Good, bad or ugly, this is VEGAS’ team. MY team. Not always pretty, but, then, neither are the REST of us, –lol!!
THE hockey GOD
Title implies Red Wings as bums and as league worst, they are ahead of Florida and just behind the Bolts, they are not bums.
“Slaying”? Hardly, they are just squeaking by.
Article needs some clean up.
Hdbiker7851
Jason – not one of your better pieces for sure and hassing over.yesterdays does help much looking forward. Maybe you should have said squeaking by is probably more appropriate. I better narrative would have been why do the vgks have problems with what might be considered lesser competition. That would help address going forward. Your last statement about win recently by lesser teams negates the premise you started out with. Vegas was very lucky last night – sometimes it better to be lucky than good as they very well could have lost that game.
THE hockey GOD
*** 100% ^^^^ right
now for revenge game with Boston on Sunday, with earlier start. Hope it’s over
before the finale of The White Lotus, or is it locust ? May have to record the game.
Pistol Pete
I would probably give the goalie difference maker to Hart that game meaning the VGK stood to win the game by a wider margin. Another factor could be the historical toughness of the matchup although it is true the Flyers have probably never been seemingly worse than this season.
Teams VGK is losing lifetime against (regular season: OTL counts as loss):
7-11-1 vs. MIN
8-11-1 vs. COL
3-6 vs. PIT
3-5-1 vs. BOS
4-5 vs. PHI
4-5 vs. CBJ
5-6-2 vs. WPG
7-7-2 vs. EDM
3-2-3 vs. CAR
4-3-3 vs. TOR
4-2-3 vs. MTL
Terry Allen
Last 2 games can be explained in one word “Clusterf@#k”
knights fan in minny
granger reporting shea out sunday jack could be to its going to be ugly
Knights fan in minnie
But not thankfully as ugly as my big bellied, smelly welfare wife with 6 teeth well spaces in her stinking pie hole
knights fan in minny
look the fake ass poster with shit for brains back to annoy people fuck off loser everybody knows your little game
Alex
The lack of proper syntax and punctuation from this red neck is astonishing.
knights fan in minny
fuck off malt liquor drinking loser
knights fan in minny
a red neck is better then a nig nog like you boy
knights fan in minny
do not read it punk ass bitch
Tim
Another night of off the wall posts not pertaining to hockey. You have a beef with someone put it out there and move on not every day the same ole same ole. I had my moment with one poster told him what I thought and that was the end of it time to move on. No need to beat a dead horse day after day there not changing so why would I want to play his or her’s game.
THE hockey GOD
today’s science listen , anyone who has played hockey knows what is really going on.
“ast Ice and Slow Ice
Anyone who has watched a hockey game on television has heard the announcers use the the terms “fast ice” and “slow ice,” or even “good ice” and “bad ice.” What’s the difference? Fast ice is harder and colder with a smoother surface, while slow ice is warm and soft and may have a rough surface.”
From the Hockey News
Why there’s no simple solution to the NHL’s battle with bad ice
Unfavorable ice conditions this season have led to player complaints, game delays and even a postponement, but don’t expect the NHL to find an easy fix for the issues.
Jared Clinton
Jan 28, 2017
ne week ago, Ryan Miller called the United Center ice the worst he had seen in his career, saying pucks hadn’t been able to sit flat all night. The same day, an afternoon tilt between the Bruins and Penguins had to be delayed because of a hole in Pittsburgh’s ice.
This comes in a season in which Islanders players openly complained about ice conditions at the Barclays Center, Corey Crawford pointed out better ice as a better way to fix decreased scoring and the Hurricanes and Red Wings had to reschedule a game because the rink was in rough shape due to a compressor malfunction. Asked about deteriorating ice conditions, Coyotes veteran Radim Vrbata said they’ve always been like they are this year and that on some surfaces around the league the ice is in such rough shape “you feel like the slowest hockey player ever.”
THE hockey GOD
today’s hockey lesson, not listen, spell checker has mind of it’s own !
n fact, ice conditions have become such a hot-button issue that Dan Craig, the NHL’s go-to guy on all things frozen, was on hand to speak at the Board of Governors meeting this weekend. There were also questions about the ice posed to commissioner Gary Bettman in the same press conference where he discussed the Hurricanes ownership, Olympic participation and concussions. And while it’s the delays, cancellations and snow-and-water stopgap fixes that are grabbing attention, the league’s concerns have to go beyond the five-minute delays if ice conditions become a hinderance to the product.
Today’s players possess more speed and skill than ever before, but the ice has to be the underlying star for the game’s greats to showcase their ability. Bad ice nullifies that aspect of the game, however, turning it into a low-scoring, chip-and-chase affair.
“The biggest concern is always that pucks start rolling and aren’t sliding,” Brendan Lenko said. “That’s the kind of stuff that the NHL needs so that the skill and finesse players can actually use their skill and don’t have to try and trap bouncing pucks all the time.
Lenko knows what he’s talking about, too. He’s been in the ice business for years, and his company, Custom Ice, has built more than 500 rinks. Remember the rooftop rink in Toronto? Lenko had a hand in making that a reality. He’s also helped out in NHL buildings, community rinks and Custom Ice even lays down curling ice from time to time. From where Lenko is sitting, the NHL has been facing two major issues this season, and neither are easy to control.
THE hockey GOD
“irst, there’s the battle with humidity, which can wreak havoc on the ice. More than a few cities have been hit with unseasonal temperatures and that can put some buildings into overdrive when it comes to maintaining the in-arena temperature and ensuring hard, fast ice is present. But there’s also a matter of cramming nearly 15,000 people into an arena, and the impact fans have can’t be underestimated.
“People bring in a lot of moisture and a lot of heat on their clothes,” Lenko said. “If (the arena) has the equipment to deal with it, it’s no problem, but if they don’t it absolutely creates a huge load on the ice.”
Most buildings have elaborate control systems to deal with humidity, but that’s not necessarily the case everywhere. While it’s not an NHL building, Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena had its first brush with maintaining their rink all the way into mid-June in 2015-16, but Matthew Miller, vice president of facility operations at ‘The Q,’ said they deal with humidity the “natural way,” which is to say there’s a careful balance between air conditioning and outside air. In an 800,000 square-foot building, that can get tricky, especially with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers packing the building on nights the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters are off.
Ideally, Miller explained, the building’s temperature sits in the 64 to 66 degree range for hockey, but that’s not the case for basketball. The temperature rises to 68 degrees for an NBA game and the packed house can account for an additional rise of anywhere from three to four degrees. But as much as the humidity and temperature can impact the ice, so, too, can the fact that Miller and his crew are swapping out the ice for the hardcourt on a regular basis.
The rapid changeover in modern arenas is something Lenko pointed to as one of the other major issues facing the NHL in maintaining top quality ice, and Miller understands the difficulties as well as anyone. Not only did the Monsters play into June for the first time in their history during the past season — a campaign that culminated with a Calder Cup victory on June 11 — but the Cavaliers completed their own successful title run eight days later. That means the entirety of the post-season was spent swapping the court in and out, covering and uncovering the ice.
The unfortunate thing for the league in their pursuit fixing what ails their rinks is that if environmental factors and shared-use facilities are becoming two of the greatest enemies of good ice, finding a solution won’t come overnight. The league can’t control the weather and arena owners are in the moneymaking business. The interest in packing the house on non-hockey nights isn’t about disappear.
“The more it’s uncovered and the more oxygen and air that gets to an ice surface, the better it becomes over time,” Miller said. “It’s a daily challenge in a multi-use facility like ours to really get the ice surface to where it’s perfect all the time. If I didn’t have to cover it and I could leave it all the time, it would be a hockey player’s dream. But I don’t have that luxury.”
In closing, we all know that climate change and global warming is a made up hoax. For God’s sake the planet has been warming since the last ice age. And there is nothing man can do about since the sun is main driving of energy on earth. But “ice rink climate change” is real and is man made, as shown by the many facts listed above. Remember this GOOD ICE MATTERS !! GIM
GIM
GIM
GIM
THE FIFTH LION !!
Alex
What a total moron…leader of the pack for the dumbest, most ignorant fans in all the league
knights fan in minny
and you’re the most ignorant piece of shit in north las vegas alex the fuck head loser
THE hockey GOD
yeah and the “hockey news” is ignorant ?!!?
what a putz.