Their improbable ride continued in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when they lost three games on their way to becoming the first expansion team since the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues to reach the Stanley Cup Final. That, of course, was when they ran into the Capitals, who won four in row following a 6-4 loss in Game 1 to take the series in five games and end the Golden Knights' Cup dreams.
That was also the first time they lost more than three in a row all season. Before they lost 5-2 to Philadelphia in the opener this season, they had never had a losing record.
So this slow start is a new kind of adversity.
"It's early, but still we haven't played the way we wanted to consistently every night," Fleury said. "That said, I think tonight was better a little bit, but we've got to keep making progress to be where we want to be."
Fleury was one of the few Golden Knights who said he was looking forward to getting another shot at the Capitals. In contrast, one of Gallant's pregame messages was about moving on from last season and worrying about this one.
"Last year was awesome, the Stanley Cup [Final] was awesome, but it's all about trying to get points now," Gallant said.
The Golden Knights have mostly the same team, but there were a few significant changes. Forwards James Neal (Calgary Flames) and David Perron (St. Louis Blues), and defenseman Luca Sbisa (New York Islanders) left as unrestricted free agents, and Vegas signed center Paul Stastny and defenseman Nick Holden as unrestricted free agents and acquired forward Max Pacioretty in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.
Stastny sat out Wednesday and will be sidelined for at least two more games with a lower-body injury. The Golden Knights continued to play without puck-moving defenseman Nate Schmidt, who was suspended for the first 20 games of the regular season for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
Schmidt's absence has been noticeable and was again Wednesday with the defensive zone breakdowns that led to goals. The Golden Knights did some good things and controlled play for stretches, but made enough mistakes to lose on a night when Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov was dominant in a four-point performance (one goal, three assists), Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and goaltender Braden Holtby made 29 saves.