Vegas determined to repeat Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights undefeated to start season Dump & Chase
By: Ken Wiebe and Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:44 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 20, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/10/2023 (994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the notion of combating a Stanley Cup hangover was brought up to Mark Stone, the Winnipegger was blunt and to the point.

While the captain of the Vegas Golden Knights and his teammates enjoyed making their way to the top of the hockey mountain last spring, one thing they didn’t drag with them to training camp this fall was complacency.

“As you can see, our team is pretty determined to get back to do it all over again,” Stone said before his club walked out of Canada Life Centre Thursday with a 5-3 win over the Jets.

“We’ve had a bunch of guys who have done it before, a few guys that have won Stanley Cups and come into the season prepared. We were ready to go, excited to see each other again. We didn’t have a ton of new faces. We feel comfortable with the team, there’s a lot of team chemistry and that’s helped, for sure.”

To date, the Golden Knights are backing up Stone’s words, sitting atop the NHL standings with a 5-0-0 record while outscoring opponents 20-8.

They’ve dealt with some early injuries to defencemen Alex Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez (who returned on Thursday after missing four games) and Manitoba product Zach Whitecloud.

Those annoying questions from pundits about the state of the Golden Knights goaltending that hounded them last season have also quieted, with both Adin Hill and Logan Thompson off to hot starts.

When a team goes through a short summer, there are sure to be some hiccups along the way, as dealing with adversity is almost always part of the journey for any great team.

While there are other contenders around the league, the early returns suggest the Golden Knights are well equipped to handle them.

“We don’t really talk about our culture here, it’s just something that happens naturally and that’s the best way for it to be,” said centre Jack Eichel.

“Guys aren’t harping on each other to do this or that. Everyone understands their needs as a player and everyone understands what the team needs out of them. The culture was engraved here years ago and for guys like myself who have come after it was developed, it’s very easy to fit in. We’re a close-knit group.”

Keeping a defending champion motivated can sometimes be an issue, but bench boss Bruce Cassidy isn’t having that problem.

“We came back and tested well, in terms of fitness,” said Cassidy. “Our group is committed and it shows on the ice.”

The other part of the equation for great teams is that once you’ve had an opportunity to raise the hallowed trophy over your head, that’s a feeling you want to experience again and again.

“For sure, I soaked it in. I don’t take playing this game for granted. It’s not easy to win. You go into the season and you think you’ve got a chance to win, but only one of 32 gets a chance to do it,” said Stone, who overcame a pair of back surgeries before getting his name engraved on the chalice. “I definitely feel honoured to be able to call myself a Stanley Cup champion, but there was a lot of hard work that went into that.”

AROUND THE GLASS

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Hockey is, once again, hard for Patrik Laine.

The 25-year-old Finnish star, known for both his blistering shot and his brutal honesty, is not happy with his own start to the new season (one goal and one assist in three games with the Columbus Blue Jackets) and let everyone know it earlier this week.

“I’ve been awful,” Laine told reporters. “Can’t shoot. Can’t hit the net to save my life.”

Laine, selected by the Jets second overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, is his own harshest critic, and had several similar public finger-pointing sessions directed at himself during his time in Winnipeg.

Which is why his new coach in Columbus, Pascal Vincent, was quick to rally to his defence.

“He’s really hard on himself, and that’s why he’s one of the best players in the league,” said Vincent, who previously worked as an assistant coach with the Jets and then head coach of the Manitoba Moose.

“I don’t agree with his game being awful, not one second, because he’s doing a lot of good things.”

One of those good things is charitable work, with Laine announcing Thursday he will be donating $1,000 for every point he scores this season to the OhioHealth Foundation, which provides mental health resources and support to the Columbus community.

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It’s been a roller-coaster few weeks for another former Jets skater.

Jansen Harkins, placed on waivers by Winnipeg near the end of training camp, got a new lease on his NHL life when the Pittsburgh Penguins made a claim on Oct. 2.

Turns out his stint with Sidney Crosby and company was short-lived. Harkins, 26, was again waived on Thursday after going pointless in four regular-season games, where he averaged just 9:28 of ice time, had four shots on goal, one minor penalty and went minus-one.

Harkins cleared on Friday, meaning he’s now headed back to the American Hockey League, this time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Winnipeg could have re-claimed their 2015 second-round pick and sent him directly to the Moose, but it’s obvious that ship has sailed and they have decided to move on.

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There’s plenty of focus these days on the Jets when it comes to their attendance after the first homestand of the season saw approximately 10,000 combined seats sit empty.

Crowds of 13,410 (Florida Panthers), 11,226 (Los Angeles Kings) and 11,521 (Vegas Golden Knights) took in the three games at Canada Life Centre, which has a capacity of 15,325.

Winnipeg isn’t the only NHL market struggling at the box office right now.

The Buffalo Sabres, one of the more exciting young teams in the NHL, drew just 12,258 on Tuesday and 13,025 on Thursday. Capacity in their rink is 19,200.

The San Jose Sharks had just 10,378 and 12,501 those two nights, respectively, in their 17,562 seat barn, while the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks all had games this week with at least 17 per cent vacancy.

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The Jets didn’t skate Friday as they chartered to Edmonton ahead of Saturday night’s meeting with the Oilers (9 p.m. CT), but they did make one move.

Dominic Toninato was recalled from the Moose to provide some insurance. Winnipeg now has 13 healthy forwards following the sprained MCL suffered by Gabriel Vilardi on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings, which is expected to sideline him for four to six weeks.

Toninato scored the overtime winner last Sunday for the Moose against the Calgary Wranglers. He also had an assist in a season-opening loss two nights earlier.

The Duluth, Minn., product has appeared in 169 NHL games, including 84 with the Jets over the past three seasons.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg