This is probably the 10th time we’ve used this picture. Don’t care, it’s awesome. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
At the midway point of the year, the Golden Knights have played 2,460 minutes of hockey. Over the course of the first 41 games, Vegas has outscored their opponents 141-111. The team has been tied or in the lead for the majority of the first half. Here is a breakdown of minutes spent in the lead for the Golden Knights.
VGK spent 919:29 in the lead VGK averages 22:41 in the lead per game VGK spent 321:22 out of 780 minutes in the lead against top NHL Teams (13 games; DAL, NAS, STL, TB, TOR, WAS, WPG) VGK averages 24:44 minutes in the lead per game against top NHL teams VGK spent 275:21 out of 720 minutes in the lead vs the Pacific VGK averages 22:58 minutes in the lead per game vs the Pacific
Game by game time spent in the lead
Game 1 @ Dallas: 2:44 Win Game 2 @ Arizona: 0:00 Win (OT) Game 3 vs Arizona: 57:29 Win Game 4 vs Detroit: 7:57 Loss Game 5 vs Boston: 25:22 Win Game 6 vs Buffalo: 33:11 Win (OT) Game 7 vs St. Louis: 17:25 Win (OT) Game 8 vs Chicago: 54:14 Win Game 9 vs Colorado: 31:10 Win Game 10 @ NYI: 21:05 Loss Game 11 @ NYR: 20:33 Loss Game 12 @ Boston: 0:00 Loss Game 13 @ Ottawa: 46:21 Win Game 14 @ Toronto: 0:00 Loss (SO) Game 15 @ Montreal: 0:00 Loss Game 16 vs Winnipeg: 53:19 Win
Raphael Rivera named it “Vegas” or meadow. Was everybody pissed at him for dropped the “Las” too? (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
Las Vegas translates from Spanish to mean “The Meadows.” The origin of the name comes from a Mexican explorer who was traveling from New Mexico to Los Angeles. As you expect of a man traveling through the desert, Raphael Rivera had grown thirsty. In a valley surrounded by mountains, Rivera found water, he also found vast green patches of land in an otherwise sand and dirt covered desert. Rivera drank and drank and drank and then decided his new favorite place was to be called Vegas, or meadow. 196 years later, the name remains and Rivera’s oasis is now known as Springs Preserve.
Rivera had characterized Las Vegas as simply, a place to get water. He was thirsty, so he stopped. Today, Las Vegas is known as the Entertainment Capital of the World. Characterized quite simply as, a place to go to have fun. But like our parched explorer friend found out, when time is spent actually getting to know Las Vegas, there’s much more than meets the eye.
It’s not just a place to go throw all your money away pulling a lever, tossing some dice, or spinning a wheel. Instead, it’s a real city, a real community, and like most who plant roots in Vegas quickly realize, a great place to live.
In the locker room, after the game, I realized how much we embodied Vegas — how similar our team is to the city. We’re a bunch of people, from all over North America and the world, who were castaways from their teams. And nobody really took us seriously. –David Perron in The Players Tribune
The community of Las Vegas sees itself as a castaway. People from Vegas constantly have to explain details those from other cities don’t. Thus, Las Vegans feel they are put in a box they don’t belong in so they are loud, they are proud, and they will go to great lengths to prove that yes, they do live in Las Vegas, and yes it is a real city.
The Golden Knights have given the city an identity, but equally true is the city has given the team an identity.
And we’re a real hockey team. With some real good players. -Perron
Las Vegas doesn’t actually offer anything different than anywhere else, they just seem to do it better, and the people of Las Vegas believe it. The Golden Knights don’t do anything different than any other team, they just seem to do it better, and they definitely believe it.
Probably about a month ago I was (reflecting on how we were winning) but now I believe in our team every night. I think we’re a good hockey team. We’re working hard and we’re competing hard. Can we maintain this? I think we can and the guys feel confident about that. -Gerard Gallant
Just like this team, you know damn well Perron isn’t going to fall down here. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
People’s opinions change sometimes. Raphael Rivera was looking for water, he found a vast meadow in the middle of the desert. Locals came to get away from wherever they were before, they found a great place to live and an amazing community to be a part of. The NHL came for an expansion team that was supposed to stink, it found a winner, and maybe just a Cup contender.
There’s always been this saying in professional sports, and especially in hockey, that on any given day any team can beat anyone. There’s no question it’s true, but it’s the sports equivalent to your buddy begging you to drive to Primm to buy a lottery ticket under the premise that, you can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket. Or Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber screaming “so you’re telling me there’s a chance.”
Can you win the lottery? Yeah. Could Lloyd Christmas ever end up with Mary Swanson? Technically, yes. Can any team win on any night? Of course.
But there’s a reason that move is called Dumb and Dumber. Because we wouldn’t even have to say this stuff if there actually was a reasonable chance.
There’s a much higher chance of this team going all the way than anyone getting me to go to Primm. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
That saying was thrown around so often before the season started that people ended up starting to honestly believe it. “The Golden Knights can absolutely beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, this is the NHL” they would say. Anything’s possible in sports right?
But now, that saying couldn’t be further from the truth. The Golden Knights not only can beat any team in the NHL, there’s now a belief that they should, because well, they have.
The Golden Knights are now 5-0 against the NHL’s conference semi-finalists from a year ago. They also have wins over every team that’s won the Cup since 2008, they’ve beaten every team in the Western Conference playoff positions, and they are a remarkable 9-1-0 against the Pacific Division.
After knocking off the Pittsburgh Penguins, no one is saying the Golden Knights “can” beat any team in the league, it’s now, the Golden Knights “have.”
Following their second game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the head coach of the Dallas Stars said this…
They’re the fastest team we’ve played all year, quickness on pucks, quickness on attack, so it’s a hard game for a goalie. -Ken Hitchcock, Dallas Stars Head Coach
I don’t know if we are that fast to be honest with you… are we? Outside of maybe Tuch and Haula I can’t think of many guys that are extremely faster than everybody else. I just think we play well or each other and we do the right thing. You look faster when you execute plays when you are playing well together. For me when I’m executing all my plays I look faster than I really am. –David Perron
What they actually are is quick.
I think our game is a quick game. I think we’re a quick team, we’re a fast team. I think we are a little bit quicker than we are fast though. -Gerard Gallant
It’s about playing fast rather than actually being fast. When the Golden Knights are rolling, they make instant decisions and then string them together. The puck moves quickly and they are able to get from their own zone into the attacking zone in a short period of time. It gives the allusion of speed, but it’s really smart decision making, spacing, and precision.
There may be no “I” in team, but with most professional sports teams, they go as their best player goes. If Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid have an off day, it’s going to be a rough night for the team.
Which one of you wants to dominate tonight? (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
For the Golden Knights, we expected that player to be Marc-Andre Fleury. Then after three games, it seemed as if James Neal was becoming to lynchpin to the Vegas offense. But over the past few games, and now the season as a whole, there really isn’t one player that needs to be relied upon for this team to have success.
It sounds like a cliche, but with the Golden Knights, someone new truly does step forward every night, and the variety of players doing it is almost astounding.
I guess that’s the nice thing about having an expansion team is you get to pick one player from every team and it seems like a lot of different guys have been stepping up. -Reilly Smith
People really underestimate us as a team. I think we’ve got unbelievable depth and we’ve got a lot of hard-working guys in here that want to win every night. You see it every day in practice and in games. -Alex Tuch
Like I talk about every time we win a game, we’re not going to be able to win if we rely on one line. The guys are working hard and chipping in and we’ve got some good hockey players scoring goals. Tonight, we needed every one of them. -Gerard Gallant
On December 7th, 2016 the Vegas Golden Knights received notice that their trademark application had been denied by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) due to the likelihood of confusion with the College of St. Rose Golden Knights. On June 6th, 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights responded in a 1,347-page document citing hundreds of examples explaining why they believe there is not a likelihood of confusion.
Unfortunately, for the Vegas Golden Knights, that response was still not fully compelling enough for the USPTO, but it was good enough to end the “will they change the name” drama. The Vegas Golden Knights filed two trademarks, one for “entertainment services, namely, professional ice hockey exhibitions” and another for “clothing.” The first was approved, the second was not.
This means the team name is exclusively trademarked when used for hockey games, and more importantly, confirms the team will not have to change their name. The clothing trademark, on the other hand, was suspended meaning the Golden Knights still do not own the exclusive rights to print the name on gear.
