The final days of a regular season always tend to get a little crazy. For the Vegas Golden Knights, though, that seems to only be the tip of the iceberg amidst what has been a wild home stretch in their Stanley-Cup-title-defense season. When Vegas acquired star center Tomas Hertl at the trade deadline from the San Jose Sharks, the return of prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick seemed a relatively low cost for the 30-year-old two-time 30-goal scorer. As of last Monday, Hertl is healthy and ready to contribute to a deepening Golden Knights center corps.
Hertl redirected Jack Eichel's shot on the power play. The goal came after William Karlsson tied it 3-3 at 16:23 with his second straight goal after Vegas trailed 3-0 entering the third period. Ivan Barbashev scored, and Adin Hill made 21 saves for the Golden Knights (44-28-8), who won their second in a row and pulled to within one point of the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division. Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Ross Colton and Mikko Rantanen scored for the Avalanche (49-25-7), who have lost four of their past five.
You wouldn't have to go too far back to find the last time a National Hockey League franchise won back-to-back Stanley Cups. It happened in 2020 and 2021, when the Tampa Bay Lightning — a year removed from winning the President's Trophy and getting swept in the first round — finally broke through with its superstar core. The Bolts went to three Stanley Cup Finals between 2020-22, winning the first two before bowing out to the Colorado Avalanche in a thrilling six-game series in 2022. A couple of seasons later, and it's the Vegas Golden Knights looking to go back-to-back in 2024.
No | Player | P |
---|---|---|
22 | RW | |
49 | C | |
28 | LW | |
43 | C | |
16 | LW | |
9 | C | |
14 | D | |
15 | D | |
48 | C | |
33 | G | |
21 | C | |
17 | D | |
71 | C | |
55 | RW | |
39 | RW | |
81 | RW | |
23 | D | |
3 | D | |
7 | D | |
46 | RW | |
10 | C | |
20 | C | |
61 | RW | |
27 | D | |
36 | G | |
2 | D |