What we learned from the Golden Knights’ 1st NHL victory

The Golden Knights will never play another game like the one on Friday night. The team’s NHL debut began with a touching pregame ceremony to honor the victims of the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas. It ended with a 2-1 victory over the Stars to improve their all-time winning percentage to 1.000.

That was a unique scene at American Airlines Center in Dallas, but it’s not how most Golden Knights games will go this season. The road to sustainable success will be a long and challenging one.

Vegas seems aware winning from Day 1 isn’t the top priority. The team opened by sending some of its most talented players — Vadim Shipachyov, Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore — to the AHL because they’re waiver-eligible and the front office hasn’t figured out what to do with its stockpile of defensemen yet. That’s not how you get fans pumped for the start of your inaugural season. That’s how you tank.

But the Golden Knights will still play a vital role in the community as they try to build toward sustainable success rather than pursue something more fleeting right out of the gate. And as we saw against Dallas, they may have just enough talent to be competitive while they try to position Vegas for a bright hockey future.

The Golden Knights are still a team with its eyes focused on tomorrow more than today, but here’s what we saw from the first victory in franchise history.

The Stars should be one of the best offensive teams in the NHL this season, so it’s no surprise they racked up 46 shots on an underwhelming Vegas defense. What is surprising, however, is that Fleury played his butt off with 45 saves to keep Dallas off the scoreboard for the most part.

Fleury’s performance is going to be a defining factor for the Golden Knights this season. They don’t have the talent elsewhere to be a standout team, so a lot of victories will come down to whether Fleury (or backup Malcolm Subban) is ready to fight off a deluge of shots.

This could really go either way. During the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, Fleury posted a .920 save percentage over 122 starts. Last season, he was at .909 in 34 starts as he shared time with Matt Murray.

If Fleury can blossom now that he’s back in the driver’s seat as a starting goalie, Vegas might not sink to the bottom of the standings. If he struggles again, well, you’ll see it in their record.

Somebody is going to need to put pucks in the back of the net for the Golden Knights. Enter Neal, who scored the first two goals in franchise history to lead the way to victory. That shouldn’t be surprising: He’s scored at least 21 times in every season of his NHL career.

Neal may not be a 40-goal scorer when he’s not playing next to Sidney Crosby, but few players in the league have been as reliable for 20-plus goals over the past decade. It doesn’t look like that’ll change in Vegas, where he’ll be relied on to keep the offense afloat.

Cody Eakin is not exactly a stellar playmaking center up the middle, but Shipachyov should be back soon and there’s a good chance he’s put on the top line with Neal and David Perron. Those two wingers put up a combined nine shots on goal alongside Eakin on Friday. Adding Shipachyov could make them dangerous, even if it pales in comparison to what a lot of other teams can throw out there.

The Golden Knights added so many defensemen in the expansion draft that they still have nine active on the roster right now. It’s been an open question as to how that situation will be resolved so they can carry more than 12 forwards.

One plan may be to play the veterans a lot in hopes of boosting their trade stock. On Friday, the Golden Knights’ top four defensemen were, in order, Jason Garrison, Deryk Engelland, Luca Sbisa, and Brayden McNabb. The young duo of Nate Schmidt and Colin Miller (arguably the two most talented blue liners in the lineup) filled the third pairing.

That defensive top four is the worst in the NHL, and it’s a big part of why Fleury is going to be in for a long season. However, it should also give young players like Schmidt, Miller, and Theodore opportunities to push for more playing time if they’re ready.

The Stars outplayed the Golden Knights for much of the game only to get stonewalled by Fleury, which gives you a good idea of how Vegas will need to win games this season. It’s a formula that will lead to a lot of losses, but if it also leads to the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, they will probably be fine with that. It’s a little funny to come out of a victory thinking, “Well that team has big issues,” but that’s hockey. The Golden Knights got a lot of work ahead of them, even if they’re 1-0-0 right now.