Wednesday morning was an early one for the Vegas Golden Knights (39-24-8). A 9 a.m. practice session preceded their new-style interview session, before they took to the air for two road games. Thursday's contest will be "wild" in Minnesota, with the Colorado Avalanche up next, on Sunday.
Currently, the Minnesota Wild (35-27-7) find themselves in the thick of a playoff battle, with the Western Conference wildcard spots up for grabs. Alex Stalock has been a pleasant surprise in goal and the Wild have successfully turned their season around, following a rocky start. For now, the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets still have the edge on them, but a home win over Vegas would be huge. Alex Galchenyuk continues to get more comfortable in that lineup and captain Mikko Koivu can never be overlooked. Zach Parise and Kevin Fiala are the lone 20-goal scorers.
Vegas, on the other hand, holds first place in the Pacific Division after a hot February. For a team as injury-ravaged as the Knight, they're playing some pretty good hockey of late. A 10-2-1 record in February, with an eight-game win streak mixed in, catapulted the VGK to the top. The cream eventually rose.
Mark Stone, Alex Tuch, and Cody Glass all remain out of the lineup heading into this quick road trip. Tuch was making his way back before a setback in practice this past week. Stone is still considered week-to-week, while his roommate Glass had season-ending knee surgery. Their replacements have been pretty good as Nicolas Roy (recall) and Nick Cousins (trade) have been bright depth spots. Robin Lehner should be in goal, if the even 50/50 split holds true. It has since acquiring the man they call "Panda".
Thursday night's matchup should be a good one provided the boys make it safely to and from Minnesota. News came out on Wednesday afternoon that Paradigm Air Operators had their certificate revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This charter flight company works for numerous professional sports clubs, including the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers.
Paradigm's Violations:
NEW: FAA revokes operating certificate for Paradigm Air Operators for conducting unauthorized charter flights. Alleged to be conducting common carriage flights when it was not authorized to do so. And it was doing this for.
Turns out the Vegas Golden Knights took a Paradigm charter to Minnesota.
VGK Flight Path:
🏒 Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) 🆚 Minnesota Wild (Thurs.) ✈️ PMM758 | N758SS | B752 🛫 LAS - 11:37am PT 🛬 MSP - 4:07pm CT Track Here👉🏼: https://t.co/V5pckHoO0F #VGKvsMIN #VGK #VegasBorn
Upon further investigation, it looks like this charter flight has made stops consistent with the Golden Knights' schedule. Eventually, the flight was able to land at Minneapolis-St. Paul, but the team will almost assuredly need to address their upcoming travel plans.
Now that they're safe and sound in Minnesota, focus turns to the Wild and stretching their lead in the Pacific. With just three more points than the Edmonton Oilers, due in part to Monday's 3-2 victory in Alberta, the Golden Knights will be looking for insurance. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m. PDT in Minnesota.
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