![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TORvVGK3746.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)<\/p>\n
As of today, the Golden Knights have the third-best chance to win the 2026 Stanley Cup. Since March 29th, MoneyPuck\u2019s playoff odds have elevated Vegas four spots to 9% after swapping coaches and going undefeated in three straight games. Playoff odds models won\u2019t use a coaching change in their calculations but coincidentally, Vegas had a 5.5% chance of winning the championship the day Bruce Cassidy was relieved from his duties. A positive goal differential and three victories later, the Golden Knights have boosted their chances by almost four points.<\/p>\n
With a victory tonight, the Golden Knights have the ability to guarantee themselves a .500 or better record under new boss John Tortorella. Since his arrival, the Golden Knights are 3-0-0, defeated a Stanley Cup contender on the road, and have a +9 goal differential in nine periods. Also, each game ended in regulation, which has been a bit of a rarity this season. It\u2019s been nothing but success in the extremely short sample size. The Golden Knights are a sizable favorite tonight (-278) and should be one again when they face Seattle on Thursday. As long as they continue moving their feet and building back their confidence.<\/p>\n
I think we\u2019re buying into the mindset of just playing fast hockey, checking, moving our feet and playing teams really tight and aggressively and getting up in people\u2019s faces. We\u2019re kind of building our confidence back and our swag in that department, so it\u2019s been good. \u2013 Colton Sissons<\/p>\n
Realistically, through this stretch of the schedule, Tortorella should be undefeated as VGK coach going into next weekend\u2019s showdown against the Colorado Avalanche. Based on MoneyPuck\u2019s projections, Colorado is a team Vegas could see in the conference finals. However, Tortorella and VGK need to seal up their spot in the division first.<\/p>\n
The Golden Knights\u2019 \u201cmagic number\u201d to make the playoffs remains at eight. So, four wins in the final five games guarantees their spot no matter what else happens around the league. That being said, the Kings, Sharks, and Kraken will all likely drop points at some point between now and the end of the season, so even just a couple more wins should do the trick for VGK.<\/p>\n
Everybody has bought in. We knew the level of urgency that we needed to come out and play a tough game on the road and against a rival and I think everybody showed up and I\u2019m proud of the effort. \u2013 Colton Sissons<\/p>\n
Of course, tonight\u2019s tilted matchup isn\u2019t a must-win but it would definitely be considered a missed opportunity. If Seattle sees a sign of life, it swiftly changes the dynamics of Vegas\u2019 remaining schedule. The Golden Knights and Kraken meet twice more, starting on Thursday. It\u2019s a scenario in which Vegas could deliver the knockout punch.<\/p>\n
Remember, they bombed me out of here after one season. So, I didn\u2019t really get much time to get to know the city. -John Tortorella reflecting on his time as Canucks coach<\/p>\n
As for having the third-best odds to win the Stanley Cup, MoneyPuck\u2019s models predict an easier path for Vegas. Highly rated teams like Buffalo, Dallas, Minnesota and Tampa have no choice but to go through each other in the first or second rounds.<\/p>\n
With no real standout, a Pacific Division playoff team will face the least challenging opponents: Themselves.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sinbin-Banner-Ad-450_300-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen) As of today, the Golden Knights have the third-best chance to win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,348,48754,4,2219,234,27,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-546583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-golden-knights","9":"tag-goldenknights","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-john-tortorella","12":"tag-moneypuck","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-pacific-division","15":"tag-seattle-kraken","16":"tag-vancouver-canucks","17":"tag-vegas","18":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","19":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116366763599349623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}