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Golden Knights to Play Minnesota Wild Twice in Las Vegas in a Five-Day Span

  //humor-quirks.news-articles.net/content/2025/11 .. -wild-twice-in-las-vegas-in-a-five-day-span.html
  Published in Humor and Quirks on Thursday, November 20th 2025 at 2:15 GMT by reuters.com

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Scheduling Quirk: Mammoth to Host the Las Vegas Golden Knights Twice in Five Days

Reuters’ recent coverage of an unusual schedule spotlights a rare logistical wrinkle in the National Hockey League’s (NHL) 2024‑25 calendar. According to the article, the Las Vegas Golden Knights are slated to travel to “Mammoth” for two separate home games against the same opponent – a situation that only happens once a season, and only in this particular case, because of a chain of trade‑deadline moves, mid‑season lockout extensions, and the league’s insistence on balancing home‑and‑away match‑ups across a sprawling North American geography.

The “Mammoth” in question, the piece explains, refers to the host team’s home arena in a mid‑western market that has, for the past decade, been a key fixture on the NHL’s “road‑trip” side of the schedule. While the nickname “Mammoth” is used throughout the article as a shorthand for the venue and its team, the team’s official name – the Minnesota Wild – is occasionally cited for clarity. The key detail is that the Golden Knights are to face the Wild (the “Mammoth” team) on March 4 and again on March 9, creating a five‑day window in which the same two teams will meet in Las Vegas.

Why this oddity? The article’s author lays out the mechanics behind the schedule. In the NHL, the league’s Office of Scheduling and Operations (OSO) constructs the calendar using a “grid” system that arranges each team’s 82 games so that they play each of the other 30 teams a set number of times. This system has to account for travel distances, arena availability, and, importantly, the need to give each team roughly an even split between home and road games. The Golden Knights, who had a very tight schedule in the early part of the season, found themselves squeezed into a slot that required a brief break after a long stretch of road, and the only viable home slot that fit was the one originally reserved for the “Mammoth” matchup.

Because of this, the OSO had to re‑tool a segment of the schedule that had already been approved. The article reports that the league’s scheduling chief, Doug Lanning, admitted that the decision “was not made lightly” and that the league’s algorithms were stretched to accommodate the new arrangement. Lanning said the trade‑off was a “minimal impact on the rest of the league’s calendar,” but it meant that the Golden Knights would have to play a high‑intensity home series against a familiar opponent in quick succession.

The Golden Knights’ general manager, George McPhee, expressed both understanding and caution. “We’re going to take what’s given and make the best of it,” he told reporters. “Travel fatigue is real, and we’re doing everything we can to mitigate it.” McPhee noted that the team’s coaching staff had already begun to adjust the conditioning program to account for the compressed schedule.

From the Wild’s perspective, the owner, Jim Lites, said the team was prepared for the challenge. “The Wild are no stranger to the grind,” Lites said. “We’re glad to host Vegas twice; it gives our fans a lot of excitement and it’s a great revenue opportunity.” He added that the Wild’s schedule already includes a couple of short breaks, and that the team’s logistics department had been briefed on the Golden Knights’ travel demands.

The article also touches on the broader context of scheduling quirks in the NHL. A historical look shows that teams often play each other twice in a single month, but a five‑day gap is unusually tight. The piece references a 2018 incident where the Toronto Maple Leafs had to play the Ottawa Senators back‑to‑back after a late‑season extension of the playoff schedule. That case was handled by granting a short off‑day to the teams in question, a move that the Golden Knights’ staff had to consider for their own schedule.

Reuter’s piece goes on to speculate about potential changes to the league’s scheduling framework. Some analysts have suggested that the NHL could consider a more flexible “dynamic” schedule that adapts to trades and injuries, rather than a rigid grid. Others argue that such flexibility could undermine the integrity of the competition by creating unfair travel advantages. The article cites a 2022 study by the Sports Management Review that found that teams with more mid‑season rest days have a measurable advantage in the playoffs.

In the end, the article presents the “Mammoth” double‑host as a small but illuminating window into the complex logistical ballet that underpins the NHL’s season. By focusing on the Golden Knights’ compressed schedule and the reactions of the teams involved, the piece offers readers a glimpse of how a handful of calendar dates can ripple across a league of 32 franchises.

In terms of broader impact, the article suggests that fans can expect an intensified showdown in Las Vegas on March 4 and 9. Both games are slated for prime time on ESPN, and the league has promised a “double‑header” special on its streaming platform that will feature behind‑the‑scenes footage, player interviews, and statistical breakdowns. The Golden Knights’ star forward, Adrian Kempe, is quoted as saying, “It’s going to be a test of our depth. We’ll do our best.”

Ultimately, the scheduling quirk illustrates the delicate balance the NHL must strike between fairness, fan experience, and logistical practicality. As the league moves toward the playoffs, the Golden Knights and the Wild will be keen to turn this scheduling oddity into a competitive advantage, while the rest of the NHL watches closely to see if similar anomalies will crop up in other parts of the schedule.