Lawless And Order

So 2017 began with the Vegas Golden Knights furiously working away as an upstart organization in appropriated offices of a Bill Foley financial entity. No coach, no jersey and no players. Just a staff with an endless list of targets to hit.
But 2017 ended with the Golden Knights sitting atop the entire Western Conference. Simply put it is the most remarkable hockey story for the year 2017. It boggles the mind of people outside the organization and for those inside it too seems like a bit of a dream. So much was unknown prior to the drop of the puck on the 2017-18 season. How would the city respond to NHL hockey? What kind of a team had George McPhee assembled? Would the players bond and play together under head coach Gerard Gallant? Well, 2017 ended with the Golden Knights owning a record of 26-9-2. First in the West and second overall in the NHL.
The month of December punctuated what has been built in Vegas as the team went 11-1-1. They beat some of the NHL's top teams in the last month of 2017 including top-10 clubs; Tampa Bay, Nashville, Los Angeles, Washington and Toronto.
The prevailing question prior to the season was: How bad will Vegas be? There's a new question: How far can Vegas go?
Without further delay, here is the latest installment of our semi-regular trip around the VGK globe.

1. Vegas built a record of 11-1-1 in December which tied them for the most wins in the NHL with TBL. Vegas led the league with fewest regulation losses and its point percentage of .885 was the highest in the NHL.
   2. VGK collected a league best 23 points in December and built a home record of 7-0-1 (ranked second in the NHL, tied for the fewest regulation losses with WSH, which went 8-0-0 at home in Dec.) The club's home points percentage of .938 tied them for second in the NHL with TBL as did the home points total of 15.

3. Vegas had a road road record of 4-1-0 which ranked tied for 2nd in the NHL as did its road points percentage of .800.
   4. VGK had a goals for total of 47, tied for 4th for most in NHL. VGK's goals against total of 32 was 6th fewest in the NHL.
   Goal Differential: +15 (ranked third in the NHL)
   Shots For: 449 (ranked 14th in the NHL)
   Shots Against: 406 (ranked 9th in the NHL)
   Shots Differential: +43 (ranked 9th in the NHL)
   5. Jonathan Marchessault led the team with 14 points (5G, 9A) and ranked tied for 17th in the NHL during December.

William Karlsson and Erik Haula each had seven goals, which tied for the eighth most in the league during December.
6. Marc-Andre Fleury went 4-0-1 with a 1.56 goals against average (which ranked third in the NHL for goaltenders who had appeared in at least 5 games) to go with a .948 save percentage (which ranked third in the NHL for goaltenders who had appeared in at least 5 games). Malcolm Subban went 6-0-0 with a 2.25 goals against average to go with a .920 save percentage. Maxime Lagace was the only goaltender to lose in regulation for Vegas in the month of December.
7. With a 6-3 win over Toronto on Dec. 31st, the Golden Knights extended their win and point streaks to seven and 12 games (11-0-1), respectively - the longest such runs in NHL history by a team in its inaugural season.
8. Vegas concluded December with an 11-1-1 (23 points) record, the most wins in a calendar month by a team in its inaugural season. The Golden Knights bested the New York Rangers, who went 8-1-2 (18 points) in January 1927, the Quebec Nordiques, who went 8-5-1 (17 points) in December 1979, and their previous record for wins in a month when Vegas went 8-3 (16 points) in October of this year.
9. William Karlsson - who scored the first hat trick of his NHL career as well as the first in VGK franchise history became the first Golden Knights player to reach the 20-goal mark this season (20-13-33 in 37 GP).
10. Marchessault matched his career-record for consecutive games with a point during December, recording a point in six straight games from Dec. 17-31.
11. Alex Tuch started the month off by recording a point in five straight games from Dec. 1-9.
12. Subban (6-0-0) was one of three goalies who played in at least six games in December to go undefeated.

13. Brendan Leipsic scored his first goal of the season in LA on Dec. 28th and his family was in attendance for the game as well as a special visitor. Leipsic grew up in Winnipeg during Teemu Selanne's time with the Jets. Selanne became a family friend and joined the Leipsic family at the Staples Center for the game. Following the game, Leipsic left the dressing room to find his parents and Selanne waiting in the hallway and he was greeted with bear hugs from all, including the Finnish Flash.
    14. Leipsic spoke with the media quickly after the LA game but didn't want to talk much about the goal. "It's one goal. I don't want to make a big deal about it. I'm supposed to score goals. It's what I pride myself on."
    15. Two NHL coaches last week told VegasGoldenKnights.com they believed the Golden Knights play the best 5-man game in the NHL and stated the team's structure was also the best in the NHL.

16. Structure is a testament to coaching. And it is interesting how Gallant goes about his business. He's not a screamer and he never makes it about himself. He doesn't come to the podium and preach and he never points at coaching as the root of his team's success. Gallant is collaborative and involves all of his coaches. He even leaves the selection of the netminder up to goalie coach Dave Prior and isn't shy about admitting this fact.
    17. David Perron scored his second OT winner of the season in the win over LA which was his second of the season to lead the Golden Knights in that category.
    18. Tomas Hyka scored three goals and had two assists for the Chicago Wolves last week. Since returning from injury on Dec. 15, the 24-year-old Golden Knights prospect has 11 points (6G, 5A) in nine games.