Vegas Golden Knights Win Fifth Pacific Division Title

Shea Theodore, Mitch Marner, and two goals from Riley Smith would lead the way for the Golden Knights as they end the regular season going 7-0-3 in their final 10 games. The first-round opponent for Vegas will be the West’s top wild card seed, the Utah Mammoth, who’ll be making their first postseason appearance. In the regular season, Utah won the season series 2-1, with their last meeting coming on Mar 29, a 4-0 Mammoth win in Vegas.

New Coach Bounce Paying Off

The Golden Knights’ move to fire head coach Bruce Cassidy with less than 10 games to go sent shockwaves, and the decision to hire John Tortorella as his replacement sent even more through the hockey world. Since the coaching change, Tortorella has gone 7-0-1 behind the bench and has yet to lose a game at T-Mobile Arena.

The Sporting Tribune writes, “Tortorella admits his plan wasn’t to turn everything upside down and shake it. Rather, just tweak here and there, get the players to believe in themselves, get some freedom into the way they play and raise the compete level by playing faster and playing to their strengths.”

Trips To The Playoffs Are A Common Thing For The Golden Knights

Since entering the NHL in the 2017-18 season, Vegas has only missed the playoffs once (2021-22) and has never recorded fewer than 93 points over an 82-game season in their history. The Golden Knights’ 62 playoff wins since the 2018 playoffs are the second most in the NHL, trailing only the Tampa Bay Lightning’s total of 63 wins in that timespan.

With the Golden Knights winning, the Edmonton Oilers can now do no better than second, meaning they’ll either play the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, or Colorado Avalanche.