Golden Knights Clinch Playoff Spot in Dramatic Fashion

It's no secret that I hate the Vegas Golden Knights. But I can admit this; they do make things interesting. It's hard to believe that next season, the 2026-27 season--will be the Golden Knights' tenth year. Doesn't seem like they've been around that long. We all know their history. Joined the NHL in 2017, Year One was a dream year. Hit the jackpot in the expansion draft, won the Pacific, went all the way to the Cup Final. Fell three wins short, but still, what a first year!

Year Two was when opinions of the team soured. Returned to the playoffs, had a 3-1 series lead, lost Games Five and Six, but led 3-0 in Game Seven. Then the five minute major happened. Sharks scored four goals in that PP. Vegas tied it, but lost in OT. That's when the complaining happened. Knights and their fans cried "shenanigans." They've been petulant ever since. Years Three and Four were the same. Reached the Final Four both times, lost to teams with Corey Perry on them. The egos still increased. Then Year Five happened. Total collapse. No playoffs. We all laughed and had so much fun.

Then Year Six happened, and we stopped laughing. Stanley Cup Champions. But they weren't content with winning, they tried to skirt the LTIR system in Years Seven and Eight. Failed to reach the Final Four both times, but still, Vegas remained a threat to reach the playoffs. Their chance to clinch came on Saturday, April 11 against the Colorado Avalanche--the Presidents' Trophy winning Avs.

Mackenzie Blackwood was in net for us, against someone who shouldn't be in the NHL, Carter Hart. Vegas got the first PP because we can't count to five. That was killed off, but our first PP wasn't. Devon Toews shot a bullet right into the net, and it was 1-0 Good Guys. Avs had another PP, but that was killed off. Vegas' next PP wasn't, and it was the LTIR king himself, Mark Stone. Tie game at 1 after 20 minutes.

Period 2 saw Pavel Dorofyev score just over two minutes in to give Vegas the lead. Avs pressed for the tie, and finally, in the middle of the period, Nick Blankenburg tied it up at two. That was the score after 40 minutes. Third period was quiet except for Blackwood saving some close calls, and a BS penalty called against the Avs that we killed. Here's the thing: we didn't need this game, but thankfully, the Avs played like it was a game we needed to win to get in the playoffs. Game ended up going to OT, and Vegas did control the puck for the most part. We gained possession, Toews had the shot, missed. Vegas got it back, puck went to Eichel, and he put it in.

For the eighth time in their entire nine-year existence, the Vegas Golden Knights are playoff bound. Jack Eichel's OT winner was his team leading 84th point of the season, but I want to talk about someone else on the team. Leafs fans, are you finally ready to admit that maybe, just maybe, you should have kept Mitch Marner? 23 goals, 56 assists, 79 points. Marner has more points than everyone on the Leafs, and he's second only to Eichel on the team. Mark Stone is third on the team with 70 points (27G/43A), and while Pavel Dorofyev is fourth with 63 points, 36 of them are goals, and that leads the team.

As for the Avalanche, we didn't need this game, but thankfully, we didn't phone it in, that's a good sign. The Avs will be off to Alberta for the next two; first in Edmonton on Monday, and then in Calgary on Tuesday. Our regular season ends back at home against the Seattle Kraken. The Golden Knights are back in the playoffs, but are still in a tight race in that Pacific Division. It should be interesting to see the results of that division race.