The Vegas Golden Knights qualified for the playoffs in their debut season in the NHL. With a 4-1 win over Colorado Avalanche, the new team booked their first ticket to the Pacific Division final round.
Most recently, the Edmonton Oilers and Hartford Whalers managed to make it into the playoffs in their first season in 1979/80.
The Golden Knights are 31. Team in the NHL. The new franchise is owned by billionaire Bill Foley, who let the expansion cost $500 million. Before the start of the season, the team from the desert city had a 500-1 chance of winning the Stanley Cup with the betting providers. Meanwhile, the ratio is only 7:1.
The Los Angeles Kings celebrated an important victory in the fight for play-off participation with national player Tobias Rieder. The Kings won 3:0 against the Calgary Flames and jumped to the first wildcard place in the West with 91 points.
In the East, Goalie Philipp Grubauer’s Washington Capitals extended their Metropolitan Division lead with a 4-2 draw with the New York Rangers, but have not yet secured their ticket to the knockout stage.