There's only one thing that really matters for anyone at this time of year.

It's not whether your defence looks good, or your star forward is seemingly back to his elite scoring levels, or if your new acquisitions are coming together, or if your goalie is stopping 92 percent of the shots he faces.

It matters if you win games because of or in spite of any of those above factors. Because it can take time for defences to find cohesion. A couple of games with a sky-high shooting percentage might not matter. Guys sometimes take time to find their groove with a new club. Goalie performance is largely impossible to predict. All things being equal, we're not going to be talking about Auston Matthews scoring six times in two games, or the Vegas Golden Knights throttling teams they should absolutely b