Lawless: Fired Up For Friday

Writer’s block can result in some weird occurrences. One can stare at the wall, go for a walk, clean the garage, or in a modern-day form of procrastination, type prompts into AI. The latter resulted in a recent prediction which is on the verge of reaching a conclusion.

It was a couple of weeks ago and the Vegas Golden Knights had broken out to a tidy 6-2 mark through eight games. A column had been promised but no ideas were flowing. Somewhere between hitting refresh on X for the umpteenth time and a Google search on Halloween costumes for middle-aged men, a prompt formed and was entered.

Based on schedule and strength of opponent, what will the Golden Knights record be at the end of October?

“The Vegas Golden Knights are projected to finish October with a record of either 10-4-1 or 9-5-1.”

With one game left in the month, Vegas sits at 9-4-1.

Friday afternoon’s game between the visiting New Jersey Devils and Golden Knights will be considered the AI Bowl in this space. The Devils started newcomer Connor Hellebuyck in goal last night and they defeated the Dallas Stars 5-1 with the 33-year-old netminder making 17 saves.

The Devils are in Colorado tonight to play the Avalanche in a back-to-back situation with Jake Allen listed as the probable starter. So, it’s fair to expect Hellebuyck to be the Devils goalie on Friday in Vegas.

There will be plenty of USA Hockey rivalry storylines in Friday’s game. Hellebuyck was in goal when Team USA won Olympic gold earlier this year, and his new teammate Jack Hughes scored the winner in overtime to beat Canada. Vegas center Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin were key players for the Americans as well. Expect some good-natured chirping.

Lavoie's Long Journey

Raphael Lavoie imagined a lot of things on draft day back in 2019 when the Edmonton Oilers selected him in the second round. Waiting seven years to score his first NHL goal wasn’t among them.

“It means a lot. It has been a long time coming. It feels really good,” said Lavoie, who scored the winner as the Golden Knights beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Tuesday. “It definitely wasn’t a solo effort. Pretty much everyone on the ice touched the puck. We finished at the net and got a nice little rebound.”

Quick Hits

Braeden Bowman scored a power-play goal on Tuesday in what might have been his best game to date in the NHL. He was around the puck all game and did a lot of good things other than scoring…

The Senators play a stiff brand of hockey. They compete, stick to their structure and whack and hack their way up and down the ice. Lots to like about that team and coach Travis Green has them playing his way…

Vegas coach Ryan Craig flipped wingers Trevor Connelly and Brett Howden in the second period on Tuesday when his team had nothing going. Howden joined Tomas Hertl and Bowman while Connelly moved up with William Karlsson and Mitch Marner. The results were immediate. Howden, Hertl and Bowman won an offensive zone draw and went to work.

They were heavy on the forecheck and crashed the net. It lit the spark for Vegas and after being out-chanced in the first period, flipping that script with an 8-3 edge in high-danger chances over the middle frame according to Sportlogiq. Ottawa eventually took a penalty while under forecheck duress and the Golden Knights scored the first goal of the game as Bowman cashed in a rebound off an Ivan Barbashev shot. Craig has shown no reluctance in switching things up when his team needs a spark and he has been creative and effective when mixing up his lines.