They weren't built like any previous expansion team, but their solid start is still impressive.
The Vegas Golden Knights rallied from a two-goal deficit to stun the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 on Wednesday night, matching the NHL record with 13 wins in the first 20 games of their inaugural season.
Only the Montreal Canadiens won as many through the first 20 contests of their opening campaign in 1917-18, going 13-7-0. The Golden Knights have gone 13-6-1.
Vegas moved into first place in the Pacific Division with 27 points, leapfrogging the slumping Los Angeles Kings, who fell to the Winnipeg Jets.
It's early, but that point total certainly bodes well.
Vegas has 27 points through 20 games.
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) November 23, 2017
Of the 34 teams that had at least 27 points through 20 games over the past five years 33 of them made the playoffs.
The Golden Knights have had the fifth-easiest schedule among the NHL's 31 teams early on, according to Hockey Reference's strength of schedule metric, and the Pacific is the least competitive of the four groups in the standings.
Still, they've pulled this off despite losing multiple goaltenders to injury, and that's made them one of the NHL's best stories so far.
Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.