The Vegas Golden Knights reached the 50-win mark for the third time in franchise history after securing a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday night at Rogers Arena in the regular season finale.
Vegas finished the 2024-25 season with a 50-22-10 record, 110 points and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Golden Knights will face the Minnesota Wild in round one of the playoffs.
The Golden Knights rested multiple players, including Mark Stone, Tomas Hertl, Ivan Barbashev, Brandon Saad, Zach Whitecloud and Noah Hanifin, while Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo returned to the lineup for the first time since April 6.
Four different players scored for Vegas, and Akira Schmid stopped 16 of 17 for a .941 save percentage in another solid performance.
Pavel Dorofeyev reached the 35-goal mark, making him just the third player to do so in franchise history (William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault). Eichel picked up point No. 94 on the year with his 28th goal, and Ben Hutton tallied two assists, while Cole Schwindt scored the first goal of his NHL career to cap off the win.
But it was the Canucks who got things started when Pius Suter scored 8:23 into the first period to give Vancouver the early 1-0 lead.
That would be Vancouver’s only goal of the game, though.
However, it took Vegas more than 30 minutes to respond. Eventually, a Victor Olofsson laser knotted things up at 1-1 at 18:33 of the second period. It was Olofsson’s 15th goal of the season.
Just under eight minutes into the third, Dorofeyev scored to give Vegas its first lead of the night. Olofsson tallied the primary assist on the play for his second point of the game, while Hutton picked up the first of two third-period helpers.
It seemed like only a matter of time for Dorofeyev, who had been getting great chances all night.
Eichel then netted the insurance marker 2:46 later to give Vegas a 3-1 lead midway through the third. It was Eichel’s 28th goal and team-leading and franchise-best 94th point of the season.
But the Golden Knights added a memorable empty-net goal for good measure, as Schwindt lit the lamp for the first time in his career to close out the regular season and the 4-1 win. Shea Theodore was credited with the lone assist, his 50th of the year.
The Golden Knights didn’t need this win, but it was a strong finish to what has been a successful regular season. It was important for Eichel and Pietrangelo to return to action, and though Pietrangelo showed many signs of rust, Eichel looked like Eichel, which is significant for Vegas going into the playoffs.
Brayden McNabb skated in his 82nd game of the season for the third year in a row; Dorofeyev and Keegan Kolesar also played in all 82 contests in 2024-25.
The Golden Knights set a franchise record for most goals in a season with 274, which is six more than the club’s previous high (set in the inaugural campaign).
The Golden Knights’ discipline paid off this season, and Vegas is now the only team in NHL history to finish the season with fewer than 200 penalties after being penalized just 197 times.
The Golden Knights likely will begin their series against Minnesota on Sunday, and the first-round schedule is expected to be released tomorrow. The NHL announced earlier on Wednesday that the Winnipeg-St. Louis and Dallas-Colorado series will kick off the postseason on Saturday.