Vegas doesn't do close. The Golden Knights are back in the Stanley Cup Final — their third trip in 9 seasons since the franchise was born — and they got there by doing what they've done to the rest of the league: bashing brains in and making everyone hate them on the way. Colorado got steamrolled. The hockey world is now staring at a team that nobody seems to have an answer for.
The Chiclets crew dialed in to break down just how different Vegas has looked this spring.
The Chiclets guys aren't alone in the take. Ryan Whitney called Vegas a joke — in the good way — saying he doesn't think they can be stopped at this point. Even Dave Portnoy is running a victory lap, claiming he'd been preaching the Knights gospel to anyone who'd listen long before the bandwagon filled up. When El Pres and a former NHL defenseman land in the same place on a hockey take, you pay attention.
Portnoy taking a full lap on his Knights call.
The other half of the storyline is the Chiclets universe expanding in real time. Biz Nasty has been popping up on TNT's Face Off panel alongside Wayne Gretzky, which is exactly the kind of unholy duo that should not work and somehow rules. The Great One next to the guy who built a podcast empire on locker room stories — that's a TV pairing that didn't exist 5 years ago and now feels mandatory.
Biz and Gretzky at the TNT desk together — the duo nobody saw coming.
Meanwhile the pod itself has been mining the Vegas run for content, with guests like Blutman calling in to talk about how the village stepped up when the Knights were down 3-0 earlier in the playoffs. That run — clawing back from the brink and then turning around and putting a series away — is the whole reason the league hates them and the reason Chiclets can't stop talking about them. Cup Final starts soon. Good luck to whoever's coming out of the East.
Blutman on the everybody-eats mentality that pulled Vegas out of the 3-0 hole.
3rd Final in 9 years for a team that didn't exist a decade ago. Most hated team in the league. Steamrolling everyone in their path. The Chiclets crew is right — this isn't normal hockey, it's a different gear, and somebody in the East better figure it out fast.