BIGGEST SURPRISES SO FAR

Nick De Cicco

The NHL’s regular season schedule is pumping in full force with a plethora of games across North America. The action is non stop and the highlight reel plays are flying in with a steady pace.

The goals have been so relentless that the average number of goals scored per game has risen to over 6. Every team has had at least 10 games under their belts and it’s time to break down the most surprising starts to begin this young season of hockey.

The teams with the most points through 10 games are the flashy Vegas Golden Knights and the pesky Boston Bruins. If you would have told me that the 31st franchise was the current leaders of the entire Western Conference, I wouldn’t have believed you.

The unsuspecting team that has come running out of the gates is the Vegas Golden Knights. With the loss of Evgenii Dadonov and Max Pacioretty, I would have expected another poor performance. Aside from the shocking Stanley Cup Finals appearance in their inaugural season, the flashy Golden Knights haven’t been too impressive.

This year, they’ve added a new bench boss in former Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy after relieving Pete DeBoer in the offseason. Of the major hockey markets needing a new head coach coming into the season, Cassidy and the 31st NHL franchise were the perfect match. Adding some new veteran faces also aligned this Knights team with Phil Kessel and some heavy media presence. The former Maple Leafs star broke the iron man record held by Keith Yandle and Patrick Marleau respectively.

Remarkably, Vegas has the best goals against average and save percentage as a team. They have relied upon breakout goaltender, Logan Thompson to shut the door in amazing fashion so far. Thompson has been on the highlight reel a few times over the past weeks and has posted a 1.73 goals against average and a .938 SV %.

These numbers put him fourth in GAA and fifth in save percentage amongst his goalie counterparts. As a third stringer behind the injured Robin Lehner and Laurent Brossoit, Logan has performed extremely well.

Going into the season, the Bruins’ core was another year older with some decent moves in the offseason. On the leaderboard, Boston is first in goals for. They acquired the skilled winger Pavel Zacha from the New Jersey Devils and they were able to keep Bergeron and Krejci on bargain deals. Their goaltending kept consistent with Linus Ullmark, but Halak moved on.

In terms of action between the pipes, Linus has done an incredible job with keeping his team in some pretty tight contests. Through his first seven starts, he has been victorious in them all. Ullmark has posted a 2.20 goals against average, a .932 save percentage and one shutout as a cherry on top. In terms of the leaderboards, Linus Ullmark is first in total wins amongst the other NHL goalies.

Veteran right winger, David Pastrnak is third in total points. He is three points behind Oilers star playmaker, Leon Draisaitl and Lightning sniper, Nikita Kuchrov. Pasta has accumulated 7 goals and 11 assists to account for 18 points in his first 10 games, that’s over a point per game and an assist per game as well.

Some incredible work from both teams thus far, but will they be able to sustain this momentum? We’ll see.