Vegas Split in Winnipeg Makes for Golden Nights

While these aren't the original Winnipeg Jets -- that crew's in Arizona now -- popular demand dictated that it's what the relocated Atlanta Thrashers would be called.

The name was part of a deal to get Bobby Hull -- the Golden Jet -- to jump to the fledgling WHA, which ultimately merged with the NHL and gave it four franchises, with the other three being:

• the Edmonton Oilers;
• the Hartford Whalers, now the Carolina Hurricanes; and
• the Québec Nordiques, now the Colorado Avalanche.

 

Why the club didn't go all the way and call themselves Golden Jets is a minor mystery.

There's no mystery involved in why the league's latest member became the Golden Knights, though.

 

No. No, it's not.

What's beyond question is these two teams who share an adjective have a golden opportunity to make history:

• Winnipeg has never even appeared in the Stanley Cup finals, much less win one; and
• Vegas could become the most improbable champion in global sports since Leicester City shocked the Premiership in 2016 by going from an unfashionable 5000:1 shot to champions.

The Jets opened the Western Conference finals by exciting the whiteout with a 4-2 Game 1 victory:

 

Vegas coach Gerard Gallant inserted Tomáš Tatar into the Game 2 lineup, and it immediately paid dividends.

The wily Slovak wound up being a key factor in the Knights' 3-1 victory:

 

The most fitting way for this series to be decided would be with what the soccer world calls a golden goal.

Given how evenly matched these two clubs are, it wouldn't be outta the question.