Golden Knights’ Cup Final loss to end roller-coaster season ‘going to sting’

Much has been said about the Golden Knights’ ability to come back in the third period. They outscored the opposition 108–61 in the final 20 minutes of games during the regular season, but this was just one aspect of the team’s consistent inconsistencies.

This was just a part of the emotional journey taken by the fans.

The Golden Knights hovered around .500 through the first 50 games (25-13-12). They lost the next five games, then won the final two games before the Olympic break.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin said, “Each year is unique in its own way. This year, I think as a group we’ve just had ups and downs.” “When you race like this, you learn a lot about your group and yourself.”

However, the Golden Knights went into free fall after the break.

Vegas went 5-10-2 immediately after the Olympics, including a 1-4-2 run from March 17-29, which was the last win. The Golden Knights fired coach Bruce Cassidy and brought in John Tortorella for the final eight games of the season.

Tortorella stabilized the team, and the Golden Knights scored an average of 4.13 goals per game and allowed an average of 1.88. This was a full goal better than the first 74 games of the season, where the Golden Knights averaged 3.12 goals per game and allowed 3.07.

Vegas won seven of its final eight games and went from potentially missing the postseason to winning the Pacific Division.

“Coach came in and did a great job, great job,” defenseman Braden McNabb said. “We struggled this whole playoff, and we fell behind, and it’s going to sting. It’s going to hurt us, but we’re proud of how we got here and how we played, and unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough.”