Wearing a Vegas Golden Knights jersey apparently means you can do no wrong. Oscar Dansk, making his first NHL start in goal, stopped 29 Chicago Blackhawks shots -- including a third-period Patrick Sharp breakaway -- on the way to a 4-2 home victory.
Vegas improved to 7-1-0 in its inaugural season and became the first NHL expansion team to win seven of its first eight games.
"Everything's gone our way right now, we're working hard and competing hard," coach Gerard Gallant said. "It's all about a team with us. It's a team game and that's how we want to play."
not even we can believe what is going on with this team!
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 25, 2017
WE JUST BEAT THE BLACKHAWKS AND ARE 7-1-0! brb we're going to buy some lottery tickets.
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 25, 2017
🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
The Golden Knights' record-setting start continues despite the loss of their top two goalies to injury -- No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury with a concussion, and No. 2 Malcolm Subban with a lower-body injury.
That leaves the Vegas net in the hands of Dansk -- who played in his first NHL game on Sunday after Subban was injured -- and the recently recalled Maxime Lagace, who has yet to make his NHL debut.
Dansk, 23, made his first NHL start after replacing an injured Subban during a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. He gave up goals to John Hayden and Patrick Kane on Tuesday, but was otherwise stellar for the Golden Knights.
"I try not to think about it too much. I just tried to play my game," Dansk said. "They're top-10 players in the world. I was just trying to do my part."
With goals on Tuesday from William Karlsson (his second), Tomas Nosek (second), Jonathan Marchessault (second) and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (first), the Golden Knights are now just one point behind the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Kings, who have played one more game.
Dansk was a second-round pick (No. 31 overall) by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012, but he never made it past the AHL before heading off to play in his native Sweden for two seasons. He signed July 3 as a free agent with the Golden Knights for $650,000.
When he was 13, Dansk moved from Sweden to Minnesota to attend Shattuck-St. Mary's, a prep school for which NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews also played.
Lagace, 24, also signed as a free agent in July after playing in the minors for the Dallas Stars.
Vegas next plays Friday night at home against the Colorado Avalanche.