Golden Knights Feeling Blue on Valentine’s Day: VGK Lose Another Home Game, Falling, 6-3, to Leafs

By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com

 

LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell

 

On the bus ride from Henderson to T-Mobile Arena for Thursday’s Valentine’s Day Golden Knights-Maple Leafs game, Steven and Cari Poscente were asked that question again.

 

“Are you the couple?”

 

Why, yes they are.

 

A year ago on Feb. 15, 2018, the VGK defeated the Edmonton Oilers and in between periods 1 and 2, Steven surprised Cari with a wedding proposal and then the wedding ceremony was staged between periods 2 and 3. It may have been a first — a couple getting engaged AND married in-game at a major league contest.

 

On Thursday night, the Poscentes were back at T-Mobile Arena, set to celebrate their one-year anniversary Friday.

 

But they, like the rest of the VGK Nation, came away feeling blue about the Golden Knights’ performance on the ice, as the Knights lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3. It appeared as though half of the crowd of 18,214 was dressed in Toronto blue, and their cheers and Go Leafs Go chants filled a building that typically is known for giving the Golden Knights a home ice advantage.

 

After the game, VGK forward Reilly Smith discounted the notion that the so many Leafs fans in T-Mobile Arena led to another third period collapse for the Knights.

 

“No, that didn’t change anything,” Smith said of so many road team fans in the arena.

 

Toward the latter stages of the game, after the Leafs scored the last three goals to seize the victory, the VGK’s vaunted home ice felt like it was a Leafs home game.

 

 

It was disheartening for VGK fans to see Maple Leaf Nation take over their arena in the final minutes of the Knights’ fifth straight home loss.

 

While the Knights lost another one in their home rink, Poscente did offer some sage advice in the game of love: “Marry your best friend.”

 

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The legend of Vegas Golden Knights home games reached the Canadian province of Ontario, where David worked at a winery and his longtime girlfriend Lorraine was a nurse. The Toronto Maple Leaf fans came to Las Vegas this week for Thursday’s VGK-Leafs game and decided, what the heck, to get married on a whim the morning of the game.

 

They’ve been a couple for 16 years, and they made it official at a chapel at the Westgate Thursday morning. The couple noted that the game tickets in Toronto are so expensive and hard to get, so watching their beloved Maples Leafs on the road in Las Vegas seemed like a good idea. (A lot of other Leafs fans from Ontario had the same idea.)

 

They saw a VGK-Vancouver Canucks game at T-Mobile Arena during a Vegas visit last season nd came away with one conclusion — a Golden Knights game in Las Vegas is the best NHL game presentation and entertainment show in North America.

 

So, they wanted to come back for another helping of NHL hockey, Vegas style — and it was perfect timing this season as their beloved Leafs were playing the Golden Knights on Valentine’s Day on the Big Ice House on the Strip.

 

The Golden Knights added a Valentine’s Day touch by having Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity sexy performers do a brief show between periods one and two.

 

The Knights also held a “Last Couple Standing” contest to see what couple has been married the longest. A couple with 62 years of marriage won the contest and won a trip to Hawaii and some chocolates.

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