If one is into numerology; 4,3,2 represents the season start for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Four lines have equaled three points through two games for Vegas. If gold was an option on roulette, well, you know where we’re heading.
And according to the internet; 4, 3, 2 means good things.
“In numerology, the number 432 combines the energies of the individual digits 4, 3, and 2. This powerful blend represents a journey of building a stable foundation, expressing creativity, and finding harmony with the universe. The overall theme is mastering your consciousness by balancing practicality and creativity to find spiritual and personal equilibrium.”
To quote Bill Murray’s 'Caddyshack' character Carl Spackler: “So, I got that going for me, which is nice.”
Two games into the new season and the Golden Knights already look like a bad riddle for opposing coaches: there isn’t an easy answer.
Jack Eichel has two goals and six points and drives one line, Mark Stone who has four points steers another, Pavel Dorofeyev and his four goals lights a fuse on a third, and Brett Howden is busy reminding everyone that the “fourth line” in Vegas can be a threat.
Through 120-plus minutes they’ve banked three of a possible four points — a shootout loss in Game 1, an overtime win in Game 2 — and the punchline is they haven’t come close to their best game yet.
That’s the part that will keep Western Conference video rooms humming. If this is Vegas at 80 percent, what happens when the timing sharpens and the details snap into focus?
Eichel along with Mitch Marner and Ivan Barbashev has the potential to be one of the most complete lines in the NHL. Dangerous in the offensive zone and clean behind their own blueline.
Eichel sets the tone. He’s the metronome: pace in the neutral zone, weight on entries, deception off the half wall. You can see how quickly the ice tilts when he’s cooking — defenders start to back up and pucks arrive in dangerous places right on schedule. His line doesn’t just create; it drags the rest of the bench into rhythm. When the top unit is dictating, everyone breathes a little easier.
Stone’s line is the hinge of the whole operation. The trio of Stone, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith are a master class in hockey literacy — reads, sticks, body position, turnover creation, and that cold-blooded calm on the next touch after they win a puck. Head coach Bruce Cassidy can feed them the tough matchup and trust the return will be territory, possession and, eventually, chances.
Dorofeyev, meanwhile, is quietly loud. His release is no secret anymore, but he’s still unstoppable from his spot. The connection between Dorofeyev and Stone on the power play is undeniable.
Depth scorers don’t ask for a spotlight; they just change the numbers on the board. Howden drove to the net on Thursday night in San Jose and scored a beauty. After last season’s 23-goal career high mark, he’s carrying himself like a player who knows exactly what winning minutes look like. That matters. When the fourth line isn’t just safe but dangerous, coaches on the other bench start running out of places to hide their bottom pair. It’s matchups, it’s fatigue, it’s the cumulative effect of honest shifts that end in the other team’s zone.
Add it up and you get the first week’s identity: four-line steep. Vegas doesn’t come at you in a burst; it arrives in waves. And no one within the team will be pounding their chest about the first two games. Cassidy called the efforts, “scruffy.”
Bank the points, fix the details.
What should worry opponents is how much headroom remains.
Three out of four points, and they’d be the first to tell you they’ve left meat on the bone. That’s the sweet spot for a contender in Week 1: results in the bank and standards still rising.
The habits are building. The matchups are a headache. And the points — one from a shootout, two from overtime — say what every good team wants to hear this early:
Even when it’s not perfect, it’s enough.
If this is the floor, imagine the ceiling.
