Elliotte Friedman, NHL Insider, puts it out there for the world to understand on his 32 Thoughts podcast show. What did he say? Elliotte Friedman called Game 1 of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild a mean, nasty, and Vegas game. In his exact words, “This was a mean game. It was a nasty game. It was a Vegas game. They defend really well.” Why was that? Because “On a night, where there was a lot of discussion about cross-checks - there was one in this game that went uncalled to Nic(Nicolas) Hague.”
TSN shared footage on their X platform of a cross-check that went unnoticed and was not penalized. An X user commented, “As well they should be … ref looking right at the play! The difference in the standard for penalty calls between this game & the Toronto game was night & day!! Hard not to believe the fix is in for Vegas & Toronto!” Another said, “Wild’s frustration is understandable.” One fan wrote, “Cross-checking seems increasingly overlooked by officials.”



The NHL referees are outright biased toward the top contenders of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs. We’re not saying that - the viewers and the fans are noticing that! However, there’s a genius strategy behind all this. Genius marketing strategy applied by the Vegas Golden Knights. NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman noticed it and spoke about it on his 32 Thoughts podcast show.
Elliotte Friedman shared on the 32 Thoughts podcast show, “Vegas has done an excellent job of highlighting how they don’t take penalties, last three years - least penalized team in the league. This year, they put it up on their social that they’ve set a record for the fewest penalties taken.
Sometimes you get reputations for being a dirty team, sometimes you get reputations for being a penalized team. Sometimes you get reputations for a team that dives or players who dive.
When they(the Vegas Golden Knights) didn’t get a penalty for that cross-check we were talking about, does Vegas get the benefit of the doubt because they are clean? I’m curious about that.”

Elliotte Friedman continued, “Because you know, in between these series, teams lobby. They lobby. When they’re going to go to Vegas after between Games 1 and 2, they’re going to say, ‘Anything you guys wanna talk about?’
They’re gonna go to Minnesota between Games 1 and 2, and they’re gonna say, ‘Anything you guys wanna talk about?’ and you know Minnesota is gonna talk about, ‘How on earth does that cross-check not get called?’
I just think it might be genius marketing by the Golden Knights, just like, hey, we don’t take penalties. We’re putting up on our social(media account) how our records say - we’re not taking penalties.”
On April 17, VGK Communications put up on their X, "The Golden Knights were penalized 197 times this season, becoming the first team in NHL history to receive less than 200 penalties over the course of an 82-game season. #VegasBorn" - just days before their best-of-seven series against the Minnesota Wild!


Elliotte Friedman said he wondered if it(Vegas Golden Knights being the least penalized team) got into people’s heads, and they got the benefit of the doubt where other teams didn’t get. Friedman concluded the cross-check discussion by saying, “And you know what, they(Vegas Golden Knights) have earned it, and now, they’re making sure everybody knows it.”
Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy shared with NHL.com on April 22, "Competitiveness is always first. The most important element of puck management is one of our most important elements of how it gets away from us. Competitiveness, winning your races and battles, is always at the top of the list for me. It won't be any different."

On December 29, 2024, Bruce Cassidy spoke about the Vegas Golden Knights' penalty kill at the press conference, "They should feel good themselves. It's gotten progressively better here the last month, and hopefully it becomes a strength of our team."
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