It’s been a while since the Golden Knights have gotten off to anything but a rousing start to the season. Each of the last five years, Vegas has won at least nine of their first 15 games, and in three of them, they reached double digits. This year’s team is the first one since 2018-19 (Year 2) in which the team has lost more games than they’ve won in the first 15.
Record Through 15 Games
25-26: 7-4-4, 18 points
24-25: 9-4-2, 20 points
23-24: 12-2-1, 25 points
22-23: 13-2-0, 26 points
21-22: 9-6-0, 18 points *Coach fired after season*
20-21: 10-4-1, 21 points
Even more concerning is the record at home, which has taken a major hit on this 1-3-1 homestand. It ends with a final game against the Islanders on Thursday. VGK’s 4-3-2 record is tied with the 2019-20 (Year 3) for the worst ever.
Home Record In First 9 Home Games
25-26: 4-3-2
24-25: 8-1-0
23-24: 7-1-1
22-23: 6-3-0
21-22: 5-4-0 *Coach fired after season*
20-21: 8-2-1
19-20: 4-3-2 *Coach Fired Midseason*
18-19: 5-2-1
As unfamiliar as this is to the Golden Knights, it’s even more unfamiliar to Bruce Cassidy.
Cassidy Teams Record After 15 Games
25-26: 7-4-4, 18 points
24-25: 9-4-2, 20 points
Cassidy’s teams have reached the playoffs each of the previous nine seasons, and only once have his teams failed to win more games than they’ve lost in his first 15 games. In Cassidy’s first season in Boston, the team started 6-7-4 and was in 27th place in the NHL after six weeks. Then, they ripped off 43 wins in their next 60 games to finish with 112 points, ahead of the inaugural season Golden Knights.
All of this isn’t to say the sky is falling in Vegas after the 7-4-4 start. It’s not. The Golden Knights still hold a .600 points percentage, which would be plenty good enough to qualify for the playoffs. In fact, no team in modern NHL history has ever failed to reach the playoffs with at least a .600 points percentage.
What this is saying, though, is that they are on much thinner ice than they’re used to at this point. The last few seasons, VGK have experienced what we’ve dubbed a “midseason malaise.” Last year’s team went 11-11-5 from January to mid-March. The year before, they went 12-17-2 from mid-December to early March. And even the Stanley Cup champion team was 16-16-4 after the nearly perfect 13-2-0 start.
There’s a reasonable chance that when the Golden Knights hit the ice next, they’ll be on the outside of the playoff cut line looking in. It’s a long season, and playoff spots aren’t awarded in November, but there’s no denying the fact that the pressure ramps up on teams with high expectations that aren’t in the position they believe they should be.
This team will feel it.
They need to start channelling it into better results soon.
In a world of over-the-top, staged proposals, Paulie Connell just delivered a masterclass in heartfelt, chaotic, and utterly perfect romance. The “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dolores Catania is engaged, and the story of how her longtime love popped the question—in the middle of an Apple Store, with a fake PEOPLE interview as a decoy—is a tale of pure, unscripted magic.
The plan was elaborate. Dolores was told she had a PEOPLE interview for a new medication she was promoting. After getting full hair and makeup, the meeting was “canceled.” Seizing the opportunity, Paulie insisted they finally go get her new iPhone. “I kept saying, ‘Just go get it for me! Why do you need me?'” Dolores recalled. But Paulie was relentless, inventing a story about the “only one iPhone Pro Max in the area” being held for her.
At the Apple Store in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey—the very spot where they first met nearly five years ago—Paulie’s nerves began to show. “He was sweating so bad, his T-shirt was soaked, his face was beet red,” Dolores laughed. “He started saying these sweet, beautiful things to me out of nowhere and I was like, ‘Paul, are you okay?'”
As an employee led them to the exact table where their love story began, Paulie’s mind was racing. “I was so nervous, my knees where knocking,” he confessed. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing? Don’t start getting sad, you’re meant to be happy!'”
While he was trying to deliver a heartfelt speech, Dolores was still completely oblivious, even joking to the employee, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we got engaged here?”
Then, he pulled the box from his pocket. That’s when reality hit. “I immediately said yes,” Dolores gushed. The ring, a show-stopping 11-carat centerpiece from John Anthony Jewelers, was a testament to his devotion. “Go big or go home,” Dolores laughed.
This wasn’t the first ring Paulie had bought. He revealed he’d purchased a stone years ago, but after getting to know Dolores better, he realized it was the “opposite of what I got.” This new ring, which he’d had for over a year and a half, was perfect.
The proposal was a symphony of sentimental details. The date, November 10th, was the same day Dolores had moved in with him four years prior. The celebration dinner was at Rocco’s steakhouse, the site of their very first date. “There’s not a thing this guy didn’t think of,” Dolores said.
For years, Bravo fans have relentlessly asked, “When is he going to propose?” Now, they have their answer. In the most unexpected of locations, surrounded by iPhones and unsuspecting shoppers, Dolores Catania’s next chapter has officially begun. And as Paulie laughed, “I’m just glad Dolores won’t have to answer a stupid question anymore.”