Golden Knights 5, Hurricanes 1: 3 Takeaways

Best record in the National Hockey League.
It might sound miraculous to say, but thanks to today's 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Golden Knights improved to 31-11-4 and passed the Tampa Bay Lightning to move into first place overall in the NHL standings.
At the time of this writing, the Golden Knights also have a 10-point lead atop the Pacific Division, and a four-point edge at the top of the Western Conference.
In the process, the Golden Knights also finished their four-game road trip with a winning record of 2-1-0. They will return home to face the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders at T-Mobile Arena this week.
Here are three takeaways from tonight's game.

1. Blew Them Away Early
Today's game was over almost before it started.
Vegas blitzed Carolina with three goals in the game's opening 12:59. Jonathan Marchessault gave the Golden Knights a goal from their first line, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare delivered on behalf of the so-called fourth line and Colin Miller put one in for the team's formerly struggling power play.

It was a well-rounded attack, with six different players earning assists.
Before the game was over, the Golden Knights also got a goal from the team's third line (Brendan Leipsic) and a power-play goal from a player (James Neal) that normally plays of the second line.
But back to the early surge.
Nine of the Golden Knights' 18 skaters notched points in the game's opening 13 minutes. Even if the final of these goals (from Marchessault) was one that starting goalie Scott Darling wanted back, Vegas early dominance on the scoreboard was complete enough that it carried the rest of the game.
2. Power Play Came Back To Life

A lot has been made of the Golden Knights' power play's struggles as of late. The stretch had dated back to the January 2 game against Nashville, with the drought up to 0-for-19 entering today.
The Golden Knights' power play emphatically came back to life today, finishing 2-for-4.
For Vegas, it's not only that its power play scored. It's how the power play scored - by sticking to coach Gerard Gallant's plan of keeping everything simple, generating more shots and not overcomplicated simple plays.
Vegas' two power-play goals were those kinds of goals.
One came from Colin Miller and made the score 2-0 Golden Knights in the first period. It was scored on a slap shot from the point, with traffic in front of Hurricanes goalie Scott Darling.
The second power-play goal - which made it 4-1 Vegas in the second period - came from James Neal planting his feet in front of Cam Ward - who relieved Darling in the first period - and shuffling in a backhander off a rebound.
Not only were these two power-play goals a major part of the difference today. They also show promise for what lies ahead for Vegas as it returns home to face Columbus and the New York Islanders this week.

3. Another Victim
Entering today, the Hurricanes had a chance to clinch the season series over the Golden Knights, after Carolina won in a shootout at T-Mobile Arena in December. To date, the Hurricanes are one of just four visiting teams to win in Vegas this season.

By winning 5-1, the Golden Knights not only prevented losing the season series to the Hurricanes. Rather Vegas clinched another season series win by finishing its two games against Carolina with a 1-0-1 record. This is the same record the Golden Knights used Friday's OT loss in Florida to clinch a season series victory against the Panthers with.
The Hurricanes and Panthers aren't the only teams that the Golden Knights have claimed a season series against.
Vegas has also won the following season series:
Lightning (2-0-0)
Stars (2-1-0)
Predators (2-1-0)
Maple Leafs (1-0-1)
The Golden Knights have also clinches the following season series against teams they still have to play more times.
Coyotes: 4-0-0
Ducks: 3-0-0
Blackhawks: 2-0-0
The following is the list of teams to beat Vegas in a season series:
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