Discarded Vets Lead Golden Knights to First Victory

Eyebrows were raised last June when the NHL's newest team said their goal is to make the playoffs in their first season.

This didn't come from a crazy kajillionaire owner, either.

George McPhee has been around too long to do the hype thing.

Dude's got cred, and when he played for the New York Rangers, he had a decent right:

That's proof enough he's not into crazy talk.

Same goes for his selection of former Pittsburgh Penguin goalie Marc-André Fleury., possessor of Stanley Cup rings and playing key roles to get them.

Dude looked good in the opener, as Vegas resembled a competitive hockey team and edged the Dallas Stars deepinthehearta, 2-1.

The evening began with a unique way of paying tribute to the victims in that dastardly attack in Las Vegas and to longtime voice of the Stars, Dave Strader, who succumbed to cancer this past week.

Then, it was down to the business at hand.

After a scoreless first, Tyler Seguin got Dallas on the board with a second-period power play:

Vegas picked up a number of promising youngsters in last spring's amateur draft, but the heart and soul of their fortunes this season will rest on the performace of been there done that dudes like James Neal, possessor of a ring himself and fresh from last year's Finals with Nashville.

Among other things, dude's no shrinking violet:

Neal then took over in the final stanza and saw Vegas to their first two points.

The first was totally veteran sense as Neal swooped in to make the most of a delayed penalty:

After becoming the first goal scorer in Golden Knights history, Neal then went into acrobat mode to wrap up the game with only 2:44 left in regulation:

A season-beginning victory does not a playoff contender make, but if Vegas can keep having a moment here and there, those points may be useful come April 2018.