There’s a scene in Ocean’s 11 that comes immediately before the heist crew is assembled. Rusty Ryan, played by Brad Pitt, asks the ever-important “why do this?”

“Because the house always wins,” says Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney. “Play long enough, never change the stakes, the house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand comes along you bet big, and then you take the house.”

It’s a scene that likely played out with far less nefarious intentions across Vegas sportsbooks ahead of the NHL season. The local expansion team predictably had overwhelmingly unfavorable odds to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup. The Clooneys of the world wanted to place a bet for the sake of owning sports memorabilia and the Pitts of the world, the voices of reason, were likely trying to talk them out of it.

There was no rhyme or reason to put any money behind this team. The Vegas Golden Knights opened the season with 500-1 odds to lift the Stanley Cup. They were an expansion team with a roster full of players other teams didn’t want led by a coach that had been fired a quarter of the way through the previous season and had to take a taxi home. Majority owner Bill Foley cautioned against any optimism, stating that the goal was to make the playoffs in three seasons and “make a run in five or six.” And yet, here we are.

The Golden Knights smashed every expectation imaginable in their inaugural season and now stand four wins away from creating one of the biggest payouts for sports bettors across the country. Unknowingly dealt a perfect hand, they bet big on themselves. Now they are poised to take the house.

 

THE BUY-IN

NHL owners unanimously approved Las Vegas’ bid for an NHL team in June 2016. Foley and the Maloof family (a group who struggled to maintain support in Sacramento as owners of the Kings) represented the winning bid.

Foley hired former Capitals manager George McPhee, who oversaw a tremendously successful run in Washington. McPhee brought Gerard Gallant on as a coach, the first crucial move for the franchise on the ice.

Gallant was cast aside by the Florida Panthers after 22 games, but had overseen the franchise’s most successful regular season in 2015-16. Gallant could relate to what many of the players on the team would feel after being cast aside by their former teams in the expansion draft.

 

THE DEAL

9 OF SPADES, 9 OF HEARTS

The Golden Knights got a retired number before they had any players. Every club has retired Wayne Gretzky’s #99 and Vegas would be no exception. It would be the Golden Knights’ only possession before the expansion draft.

 

THE FLOP

10 OF SPADES

The Golden Knights made 10 trades during the expansion draft, all of which would swing overwhelmingly in Vegas’ favor. The 2017 draft allowed teams to protect eight players and a goaltender from being snagged by the Golden Knights. As a result, many teams made deals to compensate Vegas for choosing the players they wanted Vegas to choose.

The Panthers gave up RW Reilly Smith for a fourth-round pick so that the Golden Knights would select C Jonathan Marchessault. Smith posted career highs in points and plus/minus. Marchessault followed up his 30-goal campaign with a career-high 75 points and a plus-36 rating.

The Ducks sent D Shea Theodore to Vegas when the Golden Knights selected Clayton Stoner. Theodore blocked 70 shots at even strength and was part of a Vegas defense that ranked 10th in penalty-killing percentage.

The Wild sent RW Alex Tuch to the Knights when Vegas selected LW Erik Haula. Tuch provided 37 points in his first real action on the ice while Haula had a career-high 29 goals and 55 points.

There were two trades in particular that will go down in Vegas history. They were the equivalent the blackjack dealer openly handing McPhee an ace and a jack while also giving him insurance. These moves not only shaped Vegas’ present, but also set it up well for the future.

Reminder: The #VGK were given a 2nd-round pick to take Marc-Andre Fleury, Jonathan Marchessault to take Reilly Smith, Alex Tuch to take Erik Haula, Shea Theodore to take Clayton Stoner and a 1st and 2nd to take William Karlsson and David Clarkson’s contract.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 21, 2018

ACE OF SPADES

It’s not often you get to add a three-time Stanley Cup champion to an expansion team, but Vegas got just that in goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury was cast aside in Pittsburgh after several dismal postseason series and the emergence of Matt Murray. The Penguins even sent the Golden Knights a second-round pick to scoop Fleury.

Fleury smashed his previous regular season performances by just about every metric that defines good goaltending. The 33-year-old even posted the best save percentage, average goals allowed and quality start percentage of his career. His goals saved above average has been nearly double that of his second-best mark, which came in his age-23 season. Vegas introduced Fleury to the Fountain of Youth and the former first overall pick found his peak form.

 

JACK OF SPADES

By definition, a jack is a soldier, and LW William Karlsson proved to be just that. The Blue Jackets gave the Golden Knights a first- and second-round pick to take Karlsson and David Clarkson’s hefty contract.

Karlsson emerged as the best player on the front line that featured Smith and Marchessault. He led the league in plus/minus (Marchessault was second) and scored on a whopping 23.4 percent of his shots (for context, Gretzky scored on 17.6 percent of his career shots). This translated to a career-high 43 goals and 78 points for Karlsson, who had previously tallied 18 goals and 50 points across four seasons.

Not everything was just handed to Vegas, though. McPhee made savvy selections of his own, taking LW James Neal, D Colin Miller and LW David Perron to bolster the core. All three players finished with more than 40 points.

McPhee also selected D Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt and Deryk Engelland to create a wall in front of Fleury. The trio combined to block 447 shots at even strength, with McNabb’s 176 stops ranking sixth in the league.

The Golden Knights had assembled a team full of players with chips on their shoulders, but would a city primarily known as a tourist destination rally behind them?

On October 1, five days before Vegas’ debut on ice, a gunman opened fire on a concert crowd on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 people and injuring 851 others. It was the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in United States history. The Golden Knights honored the victims with 58 seconds of silence in their home opener and by doing so, entrenched themselves in the fabric the Las Vegas community. In that moment, the organization showed it wanted to be more than a gimmicky expansion club with a free-spirited Twitter account. The Golden Knights would later retire the number 58 in honor of the victims.

In a time when the city needed a white knight, it got a golden one.

 

THE TURN

7 OF SPADES

Seven players scored 40+ points during the regular season, allowing Vegas to become the fifth-highest scoring offense in the league. Coupled with Fleury’s career season, the Golden Knights stormed toward the top of the division and were suddenly buyers at the trade deadline. Vegas gave up a first-, second- and third-round pick to acquire LW Tomas Tatar in an effort to make a real push at a championship.

The Golden Knights also acquired RW Ryan Reaves in a three-team deal with the Penguins and Senators. Tatar and Reaves wouldn’t pay immediate dividends, but they would make their mark on the season.

Vegas became the first expansion team since 1979-80 to clinch a playoff berth, but few gave them a chance to win a playoff series—let alone make the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

THE RIVER

8 OF SPADES

Remember how Vegas gave Fleury the Fountain of Youth? Well, they appear to have equipped him with hockey’s version of the Infinity Guantlet in the playoffs, because the man known as “The Flower” turned into The Great Wall. Fleury has put up his best postseason numbers in average goals allowed and save percentage to lead Vegas from the net. He starred in the Golden Knights’ sweep of the Kings, allowing just three goals over four games.

Marchessault failed to make an impact in the first round. He didn’t find the back of the net and had a plus/minus of 0. If Vegas wanted to make a deep run, they needed more from their second-best scorer. Marchessault bounced back in the semifinals against the Sharks, tallying four goals in a 4-2 series win. He scored key goals in Games 5 and 6 and appeared to be heating up at the right time.

When the Golden Knights faced a deficit for the first time after a 4-2 defeat in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Jets, there were questions about whether the team had finally met their match. Fleury had looked surprisingly human, allowing three or more goals for the third time in four games. Marchessault helped Vegas steal home ice with two goals in a Game 2 win and when he showed up for Game 3, the result of the game was a formality. Marchessault tallied two more goals, changing the tide of the series. He has been the Golden Knights’ leading scorer in the postseason with eight goals and has powered the offense.

Tatar and Reaves, Vegas’ acquisitions at the deadline, proved their worth in this series. Tatar scored the first goal of Game 2 before Marchessault went off and Reaves’ tally was the difference in a Game 5 triumph. Eventually, every player would contribute.

The Golden Knights, an expansion team, earned a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Golden Knights became the second expansion team to reach the Final in their inaugural season, joining the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues. Those Blues played in a league with 12 teams while the Golden Knights had to tangle with 30 other clubs. Those Blues played 74 games in the regular season while Vegas had to grind through 82. Vegas had to win an additional playoff series.

This has been the greatest run by an expansion team and it isn’t over yet. The Golden Knights, against 500-1 odds, await the Capitals with a straight flush in hand. Washington will need a royal flush to take them out.