Golden Knights’ high playoff standard displayed in Game 1 of Western 2nd Round

LAS VEGAS -- No one has won more Stanley Cup Playoff games than the Vegas Golden Knights since they entered the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18.

No one should take it for granted, either.

When the Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at T-Mobile Arena on Monday, they reached 67 playoff wins, passing the Tampa Bay Lightning for the most in the past nine years.

As the kids say, “Six seven!”

Seriously, though, it’s something to celebrate and contemplate. It’s incredible what Vegas has accomplished under owner Bill Foley, president of hockey operations George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon.

Year in and year out, the Golden Knights go for the Stanley Cup.

“It’s fantastic,” McCrimmon said entering this series. “We’ve been really fortunate. We’ve had great support from Bill, from our owner. Our hockey operations, I think, are second to none. Our pro scouting staff have a tremendous role in our organization.

“We try to take away all the excuses for our players. We give them every resource to be their best, and we try to build good teams. That’s what we’ve done.”

It’s hard enough just to make the playoffs in a league in which half the teams now fail to qualify. Vegas has made it eight times in its nine seasons.

It’s very hard to make the second round. Consider that only two teams have made it each of the past two years -- the Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes -- and Vegas has done it six times in its nine seasons.

The Golden Knights are going for their 14th series win in their nine seasons, which would pass the Lightning for most in the NHL in that span. They have made the third round four times and the Stanley Cup Final twice, and they won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

“There’s only one team that wins every year,” McCrimmon said. “Fortunately, we’ve done it one time. But it’s a lot of work, and you have to make a lot of good decisions. It’s not necessarily just one good decision. You’ve got to make a lot of good decisions if you want to have good teams.”

The NHL gave Vegas a better chance than previous expansion teams to build a competitive team immediately with new expansion draft rules. That’s true.

But let’s not forget: At first, no one thought the Golden Knights would be good in their inaugural season, including the Golden Knights. No one predicted they would go all the way to the Cup Final then.

And let’s be honest: McPhee and McCrimmon not only did a masterful job of taking advantage of the expansion draft rules, but they’ve done a masterful job of turning over the roster ever since, making hard, bold, sometimes unpopular decisions.

The team that won the Cup in 2023 looked significantly different than the one that made the Cup Final in 2018, and this team looks significantly different than last season’s team.

Seven players have appeared in the playoffs for the Golden Knights this year who weren’t with them last year: Rasmus Andersson, Nic Dowd, Carter Hart, Mitch Marner, Jeremy Lauzon, Colton Sissons and Cole Smith.

That’s a superstar forward, a starting goalie, an entire fourth line and two defensemen.

On top of that, the Golden Knights shocked the hockey world by changing coaches March 29, replacing Bruce Cassidy, who led them to the Cup in 2023, with John Tortorella.

Clearly, it was the right move.

After going 8-15-4 in their previous 27 games, they finished the regular season on a 7-0-1 run and defeated the Utah Mammoth in six games in the first round. Now they have a 1-0 series lead on the Ducks with Game 2 here Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, SN, TVAS).

“The thing I love about it is just the desire to win,” Tortorella said after Vegas defeated Utah. “It’s very well pronounced throughout the League how Vegas goes about it. … It’s just straight ahead. We’re here to win. It’s fun to be around. I’m very fortunate to get the opportunity.”

Defenseman Brayden McNabb has been here from the beginning. He was on stage at T-Mobile Arena the night of the 2017 Expansion Draft as the Golden Knights’ selection from the Los Angeles Kings. He has played 753 games in the regular season and playoffs for Vegas, more than any other player.

Teammates have come. Teammates have gone. Only four original Golden Knights are left: McNabb, Keegan Kolesar, William Karlsson and Shea Theodore -- three not counting Kolesar, who was in the organization from the start but didn’t debut in the NHL until 2019-20.

Yet the standard has stayed the same.

“I mean, it’s a credit to Kelly and George,” McNabb said. “That’s what you want to be. You want a team that’s wanting to win each year. They’re going out, and they’re going to try to make the team the best they possibly can, and there’s going to be changeover, right? A lot of teams do it. We do it. This year is maybe a little more than past years, but they do a great job of finding the right guys who fit in roles and fit into the room.”

You see it on the ice. You see it on the scoreboard. You hear it in the victory song they play so often at T-Mobile Arena that it rings in your head. As Elvis Presley sings, “Viva Las Vegas.”