Lawless: Voltaire Meets Vegas

Voltaire would love these Vegas Golden Knights.

The French philosopher is credited with uttering “Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien” sometime around 1770. Translated and tweaked a bit over the years, the saying is now used often as follows: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

The Golden Knights, by their own admission aren’t perfect. But through nine games they have certainly been good. And that likely isn’t giving them enough credit, but great might be a stretch and it doesn’t quite fit into spirit of the yarn we’re attempting to spin.

Thursday’s 6-2 win over the visiting Calgary Flames ran the Golden Knights record to 7-2-0 on the season which makes them the NHL’s top team in the standings.

Vegas has scored more goals (35) than any other team and has the best goal differential (+14) in the NHL. The team save percentage (.904) is seventh best and so is the power play (25.71).

The top line of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev is arguably one of the best in the NHL. They are scoring at a blistering pace and have allowed one goal against at 5v5 when all three are on the ice together. They have totaled six goals for at 5v5 when out as a trio.

Vegas is getting production from all over the lineup with the second line scoring seven goals, the third line producing 11 and the fourth chipping in three.

Head Coach Ryan Craig has been meticulous in the way he has distributed time on ice, and the Golden Knights are the second flattest time in the NHL in terms of sharing the load.

Getting everyone involved early is critical for a number of reasons. Keeping your best players fresh matters when a team has a goal of playing well beyond the end of the regular season. 

Growing the game of younger players has to happen early in the season if a team expects contributions later in the season. Getting ice for Rafael Lavoie, Braedon Bowman, Trevor Connelly and Marc Gatcomb is the best way for them to improve and have the ability to be impactful down the line.

Defensively, the Golden Knights are sixth in the NHL in goals-against per game (2.44) and seventh in team save percentage (.904).

Both VGK goalies, Carter Hart and Adin Hill, are in the top 10 in goaltending. Hart (2.35 GAA/.911 SV%) and Hill (2.27 GAA/.903 SV%) are sharing the net and giving Vegas the best tandem in the NHL so far.

All these numbers add up to strong play so far this season. There have been stretches of poor play and the team has trailed by three goals or more on three occasions. Once they came back from down three to win and lost the other times.

Those lapses are a stark reminder that winning in the NHL is extremely difficult and requires commitment on a nightly basis. Take the collective foot off the gas and be prepared to stall. 

There is lots of road to go and the goal is to peak in April not October. But a strong start to the season is also paramount due to the parity in the NHL. A team can’t make the playoffs in October, but they can dig an insurmountable hole.

So, while it may not be perfect, good will do.