By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Washington, D.C. — It was a big, loud red-clad crowd in the downtown ice arena and the Golden Knights trail two games to one in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Caps controlled play most of the night as Washington scored a 3-1 win tonight.
During the day, LVSportsBiz.com talked with ESPN NHL commentator Barry Melrose and Golden Knights fans here.
The Capitals’ answer to Bark-Andre Furry is this critter, Ovi the Bulldog
And there’s always a pin guy in every NHL city.
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The man in the dark suit was strolling the back hallway along the Capital One Arena event level and several people kept on asking him, “Hey, have you worked here?”
Vegas Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee embraced each person and smiled.
It was a special Stanley Cup Finals homecoming for the Golden Knights’ mastermind, the player-evaluation architect behind the VGK’s spectacular and unexpected Pacific Division championship and run to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Washington Capitals. The Knights and Caps are tied at a game a piece, with Game 3 Saturday night.
The 59-year-old McPhee began his Capitals’ GM stint in 1997 and was fired in April 2014 before Golden Knights owner Bill Foley hired McPhee in 2016. Foley said he knew McPhee was his man only 20 minutes into the interview.
You can tell by the body language and warm embraces that McPhee left a giant imprint on the Capitals. It was McPhee’s first return to Capital One Arena during the SCF since it was the Caps’ first home game of the Finals.
But now the Golden Knights general manager is trying to win a Stanley Cup against his former employer.
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Sting and Shaggy performed two hours before Game 3 at Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and a tape-recorded song was played on the center Jumbotron, but it didn’t do much to energize the packed Capital One Arena crowd.
Not exactly Imagine Dragons live on the ice before Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena.
Fans were waving red glow sticks, and it looked like there are 18,700 parking attendants in the house during the pregame at Capital One Arena.
The fans were loud and local former Redskins football coach favorite Joe Gibbs led the crowd in a Let’s Go Caps chant. Thirteen-year Caps season ticket holder Pat Sajak, the game show host, was on hand to announce the starting line-ups.
Polite and pleasant, Sajak said the series has been breathtaking so far. But, let’s just say he was no Michael Buffer, who did the pre-game line-up announcements for Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena.
Both the Capitals and Golden Knights enjoyed strong attendance this season. The Caps averaged 18,774 fans per game at home, filling Capital One Arena to 104 percent of capacity. VGK averaged 18,042 fans per game at T-Mobile Arena during the regular season. packing the gorgeous ice house on the Strip to the tune of 103.9 percent of capacity.
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The Golden Knights travelled well to Los Angeles and San Jose, but at Game 3 here in The District it was a giant red blob of fans at Capital One Arena.
The Caps limited direct ticket sales from their website to only fans living in Washington, D.C. and the states of Virginia and Maryland — a move the team did during Round 2 when Washington played the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2.
An eyeball review of the arena crowd showed there were probably less than 1,000 VGK fans in the building.
Two were Las Vegans Stacy Kreuziger and her boyfriend Corey Scribner. Kreuziger, a data analyst/programmer said she will end up spending $3,500-$4,000 between air fare, hotel, tickets, food and rental car.
But it’s worth it, she said.
“We’re witnessing history and it’s fun,” Kreuziger said in the upper bowl before the game. “This happens once a lifetime.”
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