Morning Flurries: Imagine Dragons ruined the NHL

Remember last year when the first-year expansion Vegas Golden Knights made the Stanley Cup Final and we all thought the world was over as we knew it?

Good times, very good times.

The Golden Knights somehow managed to get even more powerful over the summer. They lost forward James Neal — and will be without defender Nate Schmidt for a quarter of the season — but added Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty, while keeping William Karlsson around for at least another year to see what he can do again.

But since the team had Imagine Dragons come out and perform on the ice ahead of their . playoff game against Washington? They’ve been... dare I say it?

Bad. There. I said it.

And then on Wednesday night? A 5-2 drubbing at the hands of the Capitals, bringing the team to eight straight games without a regulation win since letting Imagine Dragons play on the ice before a game.

Look. I’m not saying that Imagine Dragons cursed the team or anything. They’re an equality-friendly, wholesome group that wrote your favorite pregame song five years ago. We should love them.

What I am saying, though, is that the Carolina Hurricanes had Petey Pablo usher in their new year, and they’re currently sitting first in the NHL. Yes. That’s a factual statement.

We just have to consider the facts, really.

The Avalanche didn’t play on Wednesday, so there’s no game news to share. If you’re missing your Avalanche fix right about now, though, here’s an awesome read on why it’s time to cough up a chunk of change for Mikko Rantanen right about now. [Mile High Hockey]

Around the league, we stan a goalie willing to go ballistic on a fan who pulls the assholiest move of all and tries to snatch a puck tossed to children:

To watch it broken down and get sufficiently outraged, here’s the written narrative of Holtby’s heroics. [Russian Machine Never Breaks]

If you want to know why Cam Ward is pretty bad, by the way, here’s a great breakdown of how he dropped the ball (at least, one of the times) in Chicago’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week. [Goals Against]

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live with a legend? Here’s a look at why Robert Thomas is living in Keith Tkachuk’s basement. [NHL.com]

And finally, in the wake of Tyler Parsons sharing his harrowing experience with anxiety and depression following a concussion, here’s a tale of why teams are starting to take player mental health more seriously (and why that’s a very, very good thing). [Calgary Herald]

Oh — before you go, send a golf clap to the Arizona Coyotes. It took them almost two and a half games to do it, but they finally scored their first goal of the season!