By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
It’s not every day that defenseman Jon Merrill scores a short-handed goal — and you’d think that would be a good sign for the Vegas Golden Knights in their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night.
But the Blue Jackets scored two late goals to erase a 3-2 deficit and left T-Mobile Arena with a hard-fought 4-3 win over the VGK. Of particular concern was a second period for the Golden Knights, which managed a paltry three shots on goal during the middle stanza. In a two-minute post-game press conference, coach Gerard Gallant addressed the sluggish second period.
The crowd looked like 18,300 — and the actual attendance came in at 18,301, which is very close to the VGK average attendance of 18,304 (which happens to be 11th in the 31-team NHL.)
It was the first VGK home game at the Big Ice House on the Strip in 17 days. The loss stung because it was the type of game the Golden Knights used to close out at home in season one. But not this season. The VGK dropped to 31-21-4 at 66 points, good for third in the Pacific Division.
The Golden Knights play Arizona on Tuesday night.
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