Defenseman Nate Schmidt scores gorgeous goal to tie game at two early in the third period.

On A Snowy Las Vegas Night, VGK Lose Shootout To Bruins

A Golden Knights score celebration after Nate Schmidt knotted the game at two.

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell

 

The snow was falling to earth Wednesday evening — and so were the frustrated Vegas Golden Knights, which snagged a point against the Boston Bruins but were disappointed they could not secure two points.

 

On a rare wintry, snowy night in Las Vegas and before an even more rare subdued crowd at the Big Ice House on the Strip, the Golden Knights lost to the Bruins in a shootout and came away with that single point.

 

Attendance was 18,222 — a shade below the Knights’ average attendance of 18,299 after 30 home dates. That’s filling T-Mobile Arena to 105.4 percent of capacity, good for third out of 31 NHL teams, trailing only Chicago and Minnesota.

Bruins celebrate win.

 

In postgame interviews forward Reilly Smith and defenseman Jon Merrill expressed the frustration of not attaining that second point against the Bruins. Check out the interviews.

 

First Smith.

And Merrill offered these thoughts.

But in his postgame comments, coach Gerard Gallant said he was happy with the team’s overall play and said he was not frustrated after the loss.

There was not same high-octane fan buzz in the arena Wednesday night that Golden Knights home games at T-Mobile Arena are famous for. The team has been struggling of late and playing inconsistently, and perhaps some fans are falling off the bandwagon.

 

 

NASCAR driver Kurt Busch with arena emcees March Shunock (left) and Big D (right).

 

Interviewing VGK superfan Linda Fucci, who is known for her array of Golden Knights jackets and her appearances on the arena Jumbotron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.