Las Vegas Is All In On Golden Knights, Stanley Cup Playoffs

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Vegas Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant thought it was cool for the Bellagio on the Strip to display a chocolate sculpture of star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

 

And Gallant said he also saw the Statue of Liberty replica on the Strip wearing a Golden Knights jersey Friday morning.

 

But would Gallant pose for a chocolate statue?

 

“No,” the coach answered without hesitation. But Gallant noted he might eat some of the chocolate.

 

Gallant welcomed Las Vegas’ outpouring of deeper affection for the Golden Knights this week, which marked the start of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs here in Sin City. A huge crowd of mostly Golden Knights fans packed the arena Wednesday night when Fleury stonewalled the Los Angeles Kings, 1-0, in Game 1.

 

 

LVSportsBiz.com interviewed several Golden Knights players after a morning practice Friday to get their take on Las Vegans showing their love for the NHL’s most successful first-year franchise in history. Game 2 is later today at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

 

We stopped by defenseman Jon Merrill for a few thoughts. (Merrill, by the way, was impressed by the LVSportsBiz.com jersey.)

“It’s an advantage playing in front of that crowd,” Merrill told LVSportsBiz.com of the more than 18,000 fans packing T-Mobile Arena.

 

We moved on to forward Erik Haula, who was asked what candy he would be made of if the Bellagio made a candy statue of him. Hint: “Ice, baby, ice.”

Then it was off to chat with the soft-spoken William Karlsson, the Golden Knights’ star forward and top goal scorer. We asked him a simple question — what was cooler, Fleury made of chocolate or Lady Liberty dressed in a Golden Knights jersey?

“Both of them are pretty cool,” Karlsson said.

 

Fair enough. Karlsson didn’t want to hurt the feelings of either Flower or Lady Liberty.

 

And finally, LVSportsBiz.com stopped by hard-hitting forward William Carrier, who was doling out hits left and right during Game 1 before Kings defenseman gave Carrier a shot to the head, leaving him injured.

 

But there he was at his locker, so LVSportsBiz.com provides you with Carrier comments.

LVSportsBiz.com will be heading over to T-Mobile Arena for Game 2 coverage, so please return back for more stories, photo and interviews. Our photographer today will be Erik John Ricardo, so we will have more great photography from Game 2.

 

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