EL SEGUNDO — Expansion franchises often take years to become competitive. That’s not the case with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Vegas entered its game Wednesday at Anaheim with 48 points, tied with the Kings atop the Pacific Division with three games in hand.

The Kings, who will host the Golden Knights at 7 p.m. Thursday, aren’t the least bit astonished by a team that had won eight of its past nine before taking on the Ducks.

“I’m impressed, but I’m not surprised,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said after practice Wednesday. “They have all those second- and third- and fourth-line guys that are all just hard-working players and guys that will do anything it takes to win.

“They’re going to be hard on the forecheck, they’re going to block shots, they’re going to be relentless on the puck, they’re going to try and win every battle. That’s why they’re beating teams. They’re not surprising anyone anymore. They’re just outworking teams and outcompeting teams.”

Another Kings defenseman, Alec Martinez, believes the Golden Knights’ home ice at T-Mobile Arena has been a factor. They, along with Tampa Bay, share the best home record in the league at 15-2-1.

“I mean, the atmosphere there is awesome,” said Martinez, whose team lost 4-2 to Vegas at T-Mobile on Nov. 19.

And even though the Golden Knights don’t have a tremendous road record — they were 8-7-1 before Wednesday — Martinez can’t say enough about their overall body of work.

“They play a really fast game,” he said. “A lot of speed; they’re all over you on the forecheck. Really mobile (defense). And I think they’ve had quite a number of goaltenders this year. That’s been a bit of a story, and they’ve all played well for them.”

Vegas had to use four goaltenders over the season’s first 10 games because of injuries, five overall; the Kings (22-11-4) have used two.

“They’re a really good hockey club,” Martinez said. “I think, yeah, they’re proving everyone wrong and that’s a mentality that a team can build on and embrace.”

Coach is impressed

Kings coach John Stevens said there were “hockey people” around the league saying the Golden Knights (23-9-2) would be competitive right away. He gave kudos to Vegas’ management team, led by general manager George McPhee, and to the coaching staff headed by Gerard Gallant.

“I think everybody was expecting them to be good,” Stevens said. “I don’t know if they were expecting them to be this good. But I think you saw them get out of the gate in a hurry and you say, ‘Geez, when are they going to fall off a little bit?’ Well, they’re not going away.

“They continue to get better. They’ve absorbed some injuries, especially in the net, which is not easy to do. But they’ve got some really balanced scoring. They play four lines.”

The Golden Knights started 8-2-0, the best 10-game start by a new franchise in league history.

The numbers

Vegas has six players with at least 24 points. Leading the way is center Jonathan Marchessault with 32 (12 goals, 20 assists). Another center, William Karlsson, has 16 goals and 12 assists. Left wing James Neal has a team-high 17 goals to go along with 10 assists.

Ice chips

The Kings after Thursday’s game head out to Canada for a three-game trip with stops at Vancouver on Saturday, Edmonton on Tuesday and Calgary on Jan. 4. … The Kings recalled defenseman Kevin Gravel from Ontario. Gravel was also recalled Dec. 20, but did not get into a game and was sent down four days later.