By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Monster crowd of 18, 511. A playoff game atmosphere with the Penguins in the Big Ice House. And a satisfying 7-3 win for the Vegas Golden Knights in front of the second biggest regular season crowd in VGK history thanks to a Jonathan Marchessault hat trick.
The Golden Knights also went back to the future with its heralded, over-the-top pregame show as last year’s sword-in-stone ceremony returned to the VGK pregame hoopla Saturday night when the Knights hosted Pittsburgh.
Before each game this year, the VGK knight character strikes the sword out of the hand of an actor playing the Golden Knights’ opponent and there’s artwork projected onto the pregame ice representing the VGK foes. The artwork representing the other team gets obliterated in the special effect.
But for tonight’s Vegas-Pittsburgh game, the VGK knight character played by Lee Orchard returned to vanquishing his VGK opponent and then thrust the sword in the stone that was a popular act before games during the inaugural season. LVSportsBiz remembers Golden Knights owner Bill Foley saying during the first year that he also enjoyed the sword-in-stone ceremony.
The pregame show also included a new military-themed, helicopter video that included Foley as commander in the field. Foley is a West Point graduate.
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Speaking of Foley, he wanted more Golden Knights fans at VGK home games and the business and ticket folks have complied with the order for the most part in season 2. But Penguin Nation has arrived in Las Vegas and there are legions of Crosby jersey-wearing Pittsburgh fans in the Big Ice House on the Strip tonight.
LVSportsBiz.com chatted with a couple from Pittsburgh before tonight’s game. Check that interview here.
The couple said the tickets were $300 each bought on the secondary market — section 3, row U.
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National anthem singer Carnell Johnson had the night off and Lauren Diaz did a terrific job in his place.
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The first period was a wild game with a game’s worth of plays as the Golden Knights scored three straight goals after the Penguins opened the scoring.
But the Pens scored two in the second period’s first six minutes to knot the score at three apiece.
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Jonathan Marchessault then took over, scoring twice in period two to give the Knights a 5-3 edge heading into period three.
William Karlsson re-directed a Colin Miller shot to make it 6-3 in the third period.
And then Marchy capped the win in hatty style with an empty-netter for the 7-3 final. The Golden Knights had a 50 percent sale off hats at the team store after the game.
Here’s VGK forward Max Pacioretty for the postgame takes:
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Monday is Golden Knights’ gold jacket day for VGK season ticket holders. Lots of gold will be in the building when the Knights host the Minnesota Wild for a 3 p.m. start on Martin Luther King Day.
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