As the calendar flips to January and 2018, the inaugural season of the Vegas Golden Knights has progressed well beyond the point of being a cute little story.
“It’s not like we’re a few weeks into the season here,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “This is obviously very real and quite a compliment to them and the job that they’re doing.”
The Vegas team that comes to Scottrade Center for Thursday’s 7 p.m. contest against the Blues has had staying power. Their 27-9-2 record, good for 56 points, leads the Western Conference and is second in the entire NHL only to Tampa Bay’s 29-8-2.
The Knights have an eight-game winning streak, which is a record for an NHL expansion team and matches the longest unbeaten streak in the league this year. And they have earned at least one point in 13 straight games (12-0-1), which is also an expansion team mark.
“It’s unbelievable,” Blues center Brayden Schenn said. “What are they, 17-2 or something like that at home?”
Yep. They are 17-2-1 at T-Mobile Arena, the best home record in the league.
“I guess when you get an extra couple days in Vegas, teams are maybe taking advantage of it,” Schenn said, smiling.
You know, what happens in Vegas ...
The Golden Knights are a more mortal 10-7-1 on the road, but even so they’ve won their last four away from home.
“For one, they did a very good job picking their team,” Yeo said. “They picked competitive players, smart players, guys that are capable of playing well on both sides of the puck.
“I think that they’re well-coached, and I think that they play every game like they’re trying to send a message and prove a point.”
After all, the bulk of the roster was deemed expendable by their former teams and made available in the expansion draft last June.
“Obviously, all those guys are playing with something to prove,” Schenn said. “They all kind of got let go by their teams. They’re a tough team to play against. I remember, just playing in Vegas, they play hard, they play fast.”
Only 2½ weeks into the season, the Blues lost 3-2 in Las Vegas in overtime despite registering a season-high 49 shots, winning 54 percent of their faceoffs and allowing only 25 shots.
In that game, Vladimir Sobotka was denied what looked like a third-period goal when goalie Malcolm Subban’s body appeared to completely cross the goal line with the puck nestled somewhere in his frame.
But since the puck could not be seen during an officials’ review, the original call of no-goal stood.
“It was a little time ago,” Yeo said, referring to that Oct. 21 contest. “I think that their team has improved since then. ... I remember it being a hard game. I remember them playing with good structure.
“We did a lot of things well and we still came short. So we know that we’re gonna have to play a really strong game (Thursday).”
NO BOUWMEESTER AT PRACTICE
Veteran defenseman Jay Bouwmeester did not participate in the morning skate Tuesday before logging 18 minutes, 7 seconds of ice time against New Jersey. And he did not practice Wednesday at Scottrade. It appears that will become the norm for Bouwmeester, 34, who has missed all but 12 games this season because of injury.
“I want to make sure he’s healthy for the games and feeling 100 percent for the games,” Yeo said. “He’s got the experience, and we’ll just give him as many maintenance days as he needs to make sure that he can go out and play the way that he has been.”
Also missing on defense in Wednesday’s practice was rookie Vince Dunn, who was ill.