Golden Knights’ odds to win Stanley Cup highest since 1st season

The shine has come off the Golden Knights.

Mired in a franchise-record five-game losing streak, the Knights’ odds at the Westgate SuperBook have skyrocketed to 40-1 to win the Stanley Cup and 20-1 to win the Western Conference.

“We haven’t seen numbers like that since the first half of their first year,” SuperBook vice president Jay Kornegay said.

The Knights were 500-1 preseason long shots to win the Stanley Cup in their inaugural 2017-18 season. Their odds were slashed as they made a magical run to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Washington Capitals.

Since then, Vegas (32-26-4, 68 points) has been among the favorites the past few years to win the NHL and conference titles. The Knights opened this season as 5-1 co-favorites with the Colorado Avalanche to win the Cup and +210 co-favorites to win the West.

“Now, we’re looking at them possibly missing the playoffs, which is unimaginable,” Kornegay said.

The Knights entered Wednesday holding the second wild card with 20 games left in the season and four teams within three points.

Circa Sports has posted a prop on whether the Knights will make the playoffs. No is a -120 favorite. Yes pays even money.

“I would make yes a very, very small favorite. From a talent standpoint, they’re still really, really good,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “I’m going to say they sneak in, but it’s going to be awfully tough.”

Riddled with injuries to star players, including captain Mark Stone, defenseman Alec Martinez and goalie Robin Lehner, the Knights have lost 11 of their past 15 games and surrendered a season-high seven goals in Tuesday’s 7-3 loss at Winnipeg.

“It wasn’t the football Jets scoring a touchdown. It was the hockey Jets scoring a touchdown against the Knights,” Esposito said. “That kind of puts it into perspective. They’re a struggling team right now. They’ve given up at least five goals or more in the last three games of their road trip.

“Clearly, the team is heading in the wrong direction now. They need to right the ship pretty quickly.”

Things don’t get any easier for the Knights on Thursday, when they host Eastern Conference-leading Florida at T-Mobile Arena, where Vegas is 16-13-3 this season. The Panthers are -130 favorites over the Knights, +110 home underdogs.

Bettors have largely jumped off the Vegas bandwagon during the team’s recent slide.

“We’ve seen other teams in the league that used to be some of the leaders in ticket counts, whether it was Detroit, Pittsburgh or Chicago,” Kornegay said. “But with their struggles over a number of years now, they’re way down.

“It’s very natural for fans in any sport. When their team struggles, they tend to back off the betting support.”

The Knights are 25-1 at Station Casinos to win the Cup, 22-1 at Circa Sports, 11-1 at BetMGM and 9-1 at Caesars Sportsbook. So there might be some value in taking them at 40-1 at the SuperBook.

“History has proven that teams like this can all of a sudden get their act together right before the playoffs and can make a run,” Kornegay said.

Esposito said a return to health by the Knights might equal a postseason run.

“They’ve been the most injured team in the league,” he said. “But if they can just get into the playoffs and get Lehner, Martinez and Stone back, and a healthy (Max) Pacioretty, and get (Jack) Eichel more ice time, they become a very dangerous team.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.