Phil Kessel misses first game since 2009, Golden Knights still eliminate Jets

The Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets from the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday night with a 4-1 win. That was just one of the two big stories from that game.

The other was that Vegas was able to win that game without the services of winger Phil Kessel, who was made a healthy scratch by the Golden Knights' coaching staff.

Why is that so significant? Because it is the first NHL game that Kessel has missed since October 31, 2009. 

Kessel is the NHL's iron man, having played in 1,064 consecutive regular season games. That is an NHL record. He is the only player in league history to have played in more than 1,000 consecutive games. 

Because the NHL separates regular season stats and playoff stats, missing Thursday's game does not officially end his iron man streak and it will continue next season, assuming he plays in the NHL. It did, however, end a streak of 99 consecutive playoff games. The last time he missed a playoff game was all the way back in 2008 when he was still a member of the Boston Bruins. 

The 35-year-old Kessel scored 14 goals with 22 assists during the regular season, but had zero goals and only two assists through the first four games of the series against Winnipeg. A two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kessel has been a reliable playoff performer throughout his career but has clearly slowed down a bit over the years. 

Even so, the Golden Knights are still looking like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender in the Western Conference and have advanced to the second round after missing the playoffs a year ago. They are the first team in this year's playoffs to advance. Vegas will play the winner of the Los Angeles Kings-Edmonton Oilers series. The Oilers have a 3-2 lead in that series with Game 6 happening on Friday night.