The Knights Aren’t Looking So Golden

[Machinehead]

Everyone was just waiting for this. Even if they do suck, congrats on being right 12 months late.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Schmidt was their most important player outside of MAF and their top line.

Hopefully they keep on losing and continue to do so once he returns.

 

[Luminiferous]

Love the salt from the dirty shark fans. I hope they turn it around. I like the Knights.

 

[Herby]

Gee, who could have ever seen this coming?

Amazing what happens when they aren't the league's darlings anymore and they get zero help from the Refs every game.

The refs were not the reason the Sharks lost to Vegas.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

What goes up must come down.

 

[Puckstop40]

Yeap not a good start at all. Regression was going to come no matter because the only other thing they could have done better than last year was win 16 playoff games this year instead of 13. Tuch, Stastny, and Schmidt being out of the lineup is not going to help either. If you look at this defense on paper, it’s not very good at all, especially without Schmidt. Thw defense is what is killing them right now. The forwards were so good at helping out the defense last year but it hasn’t been seen yet. The team is facing adversity early this year.

 

[mundyc3]

This team is very much a momentum team. When they are on they are on. Other than all that has been said so far, being a STH, I felt the opening ceremony was lame and took the life out of the building in the first game. Preseason was far more exciting and they responded to that.

I know it sounds odd, but once they get back to T-Mobile and start getting a few of these 50/50 pucks in they will be fine. The biggest issue is with puck luck being completely against them, almost the entire team is tense and tight. That will change.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

It's too early to draw any meaningful conclusions

 

[tucker3434]

A quick look at current stats and standings of all teams will tell you that we’re still way too early to draw any conculusions. That said, Vegas had a tremendous start to last season. Even when they cooled off, they were able to ride that wave until they heated up again. They won’t have that benefit this year. They’re gonna be down in the muck with the rest of us battling for a playoff spot all season. We’ll see how they handle it.

 

[KCC]

They’ve lost 3 in a row but not for lack of effort. They can just as easily rattle off a few in a row and climb over .500. This is where I say something that’s cliche but true in their case. It’s only a few games in and it’s a long season.

 

[TeeTee]

From what I saw against the Pens last night, they are a good team. They controlled a lot of the play but gave up several odd man chances and Phil made them pay the price. They looked really fast.

 

[bobholly39]

Im surprised of the so many "its only 5 games in" comments.

Of course its still early but their record is still alarming. I dont think downplaying it too much is right either.

As a habs fan whose team went through a horrible start last year and then never recovered - trust me you guys better start winning games fast before you dig too deep a hole to climb out of.

 

[NJD28]

After tomorrow's game in Philadelphia, Vegas returns home for five straight and if still struggling, then it might be time to worry a bit. With five of the first six on the road, including the back-to-back at Washington at Pittsburgh, I don't think anybody was expecting a great start, especially with a few key guys out.

 

[Avelanche]

I’m sure they’ll improve. I would have thought the top line would come back to earth but it really isn’t.

 

[General Disarray]

I knew they would come back to earth this season. If were a GM, I would have tried my hardest to trade for their 1st rd pick this year during the offseason.

 

[winnipegger]

That defense though

 

[HanSolo]

They’ve lost 3 in a row but not for lack of effort. They can just as easily rattle off a few in a row and climb over .500. This is where I say something that’s cliche but true in their case. It’s only a few games in and it’s a long season.

Yep. The team looks frustrated. They're shooting the puck a lot but not really scoring enough, then a Schmidt-less defense running guys that look rusty is leaving our goalies exposed a lot.

No one in that locker room is satisfied right now. The look on Smith and Marchessault's faces after Smith's second goal tell you everything you need to know about the mood in that room. This is the first time this group has really been poor. I'd expect them to bounce back. Back to a dominant team? Probably not but certainly not this bad.

 

[HanSolo]

You can't really believe this, can you?

You'd think as a Sharks fan you would be used to your team choking in the playoffs, and less insecure about it.

He's been on this narrative since the very first Sharks-Knights game. Not just the playoffs.

 

[fsanford]

The questions that remains is the guys who had career years last year, can they achieve the same level again this year.

Haven't really watched their games, but Flower save percentage points to he just got a retirement contract. .846 is in major suck range.
Though could be he is just getting hung out to dry by the Vegas D, which is certainly possible


To get into the playoffs, I think Colorado was 13 games over .500.
So Knights have to go around 46-31 rest of the way, more than doable at this point.

 

[Ciao]

It's too early to draw any meaningful conclusions

^ This sums it up.

Even as a Leafs fan I really enjoyed Vegas' season last year. It was refreshing, and a beautiful reprisal of a well liked coach.

If they can grind out another playoff appearance, that would be a hugely successful season.

It might not go that way, but it's too early to say.

Just wait for American Thanksgiving. We'll all have a better idea then.

 

[BMOK33]

Let's see if the fans continue to show up. True test of sustaining an NHL franchise.

It’s too early to know what’s going on but I said there was no way that roster was going to duplicate a season like that. And I didn’t even mean going to the final I meant even finishing as well during the season. Let’s not forgot teams who go to the final often start slow the next season too. So if that team overachieved the previous year it’s usually a compounded affect and makes things even worse. I have serious concerns about their attendance as well. When fans get treated to that right out of the gate there is nowhere to go but down. They won’t draw miserably but what’ll happen is what happens in Sunrise when the Panthers play the Bruins Devils Rangers Islanders Leafs or Habs. The entire arena will be opposing team fans all the time.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

first they play caps then a rested penguins team back to back

and last year they played their 4th string goalie a few games and still won
they didn't need excuses last year

 

[AdvelPill]

They haven't won a game in regulation since they let the Imagine Dragons play before one of their games

 

[lwvs84]

Vegas overachieved last year, but they're also not as bad as they've started this year. They will likely settle in somewhere in between. I think they will challenge for the #2/3 spots in the division this season. Just like San Jose, they will correct what's going wrong sooner rather than later.

 

[Fire Benning]

Too bad. i'm old enough to remember when they played for the cup though.