Golden Knights Head Into Break With Loss To Nashville and Increasing Attendance

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell

 

Another monster crowd poured into T-Mobile Arena Wednesday evening, with 18,477 fans bearing witness to a red-hot back-up goalie by the name of Juuse Saros walling the Vegas Golden Knights in a 2-1 VGK loss to fellow Western Conference contender Nashville Predators.

 

It was another close loss for the Golden Knights to a Western Conference playoff team as the VGK head into the All-Star Game break and bye week sitting in third place in the Pacific Division behind first place Calgary and San Jose.

 

The crowd, the third biggest regular season gathering in Golden Knights history, watched Saros make every conceivable type of stop. His 47 saves were a personal record and Saros’ record improved to 12-6-1 — a top record for a back-up goaltender.

 

I asked Schmidt after the game how a team solves a red-hot goalie.

The VGK’s Pierre-Edouard Bellamare got involved with a scrap at the end of the second period.

 

Predators star defenseman P.K. Subban, brother of injured VGK goalie Malcolm Subban and a popular celebrity in Nashville, shoved his gloved hand into Bellamare’s mouth and ripped Bellsy’s mouthguard out. At one point, Subban’s gloved hand was rubbing against Bellamare’s teeth inside his mouth, according to Bellsy.

 

Here’s Bellsy during the scuffle and a video interview after the game.

 

 

The Golden Knights played their 25th home game out of 52 games so far, showing a record of 29-19-4 for 62 points.

 

The Knights’ attendance has been outstanding in season two, with VGK averaging 18,304 fans a game and filling T-Mobile Arena to 105.4 percent of capacity thanks to standing room only areas near the castle area, the top of upper bowl and the Hyde Lounge.

 

Official capacity is considered 17,367 at the Big Ice House on the Strip. The Knights rank 11th out of 31 NHL teams in attendance — but third in percentage capacity, trailing only Chicago (106.2 percent) and Minnesota (105.5 percent).

 

Wednesday’s crowd was so huge that the game posters showing star goalie Marc-Andre Fleury were gone by 6:31 p.m. and the VGK staff were breaking down tables in the arena lobby, a VGK poster collector told LVSportsBiz.com.

 

It was another game that the Golden Knights had a lead — forward Max Pacioretty scored to give the VGK a 1-0 edge in period one –but could not hold the lead.

 

The Golden Knights’ popularity in the Las Vegas market makes T-Mobile Arena the place to be and be seen. Raiders owner Mark Davis is a frequent attendee, like he was tonight.

 

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Only one day earlier, the Golden Knights released information about season ticket price increases. VGK fans with five-year and 10-year deals will not face a season ticket price increase for year three in 2019-20, but fans with three-year deals faced double-digit-dollar increases per game.

 

The official ticket price per game now averages out to $100.18, according to VGK president Kerry Bubolz. Last year it was $88.

 

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