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EDITORIAL: Vegas Golden Knights exceed all expectations in first season

The Vegas Golden Knights weren’t supposed to be the fine-tuned sports car in their inaugural season. At best, they’d be a dependable family sedan. At worst, they’d be a clunky beater held together with used parts and duct tape, hanging on in the far right lane of the NHL highway.

But something special happened on that highway. The Knights roared onto the road and gathered milestone after milestone with the speed of a Ferrari. They now stand just four wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.

The Knights hit the ice Oct. 6 with a win against Dallas and haven’t looked back. They followed that with wins in their next two games — including an emotional 5-2 victory in their home debut, nine days after the tragic and senseless events of Oct. 1.

In fact, Vegas won eight of its first nine games and continued winning at a very unexpansion-like rate right through the new year. That included a season-high eight-game winning streak capped by a raucous home shutout over defending Western Conference champion Nashville on Jan. 2.

On Feb. 1, the Knights broke the record for most wins in a season by a first-year expansion team, reaching 34 victories. Later in the month, they reached 84 points, again a record for a team in its inaugural year, even though six weeks remained in the season.

When the regular season ended April 7, the Knights were Pacific Division champions. That would have been more than enough to sate the appetite of even the most optimistic fan. But Vegas proved it was still plenty hungry, whitewashing a playoff-savvy Los Angeles Kings squad in four straight games to sweep the best-of-seven first-round series.

The Knights then showed some serious grit in knocking off the San Jose Sharks — another perennial playoff contender — in six games, advancing with a 3-0 road victory Sunday night that showcased the continued magnificence of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

A squad comprised of players from all around the league, most of whom had never played together, was doing things almost no other team in the long, storied history of the NHL had done.

Now it’s on to the Western Conference finals, against either Nashville or Winnipeg, starting Saturday. The Knights are just a series win away from a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals to play for one of the most iconic trophies in all of sports.

To put it in Vegas terms, the Knights are playing with house money and have been for quite some time. This team of so-called “Golden Misfits” has thrilled its throaty fans and become a source of tremendous civic pride in an incredibly short amount of time. The whole organization is already a huge winner, not just for its performance on the ice, but for how it has embraced this community off the ice.

Nobody thought this car would travel this far, this fast. And the best part? The ride continues.

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