Golden Knights Frustrate Sharks With 5-0 Win In Game 4 Before 18,567; Look To Clinch Round 1 Series in San Jose Thursday
By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
A massive crowd of 18,567 watched the team’s biggest star — Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury — shut out the San Jose Sharks Tuesday and give the VGK a stranglehold on the first round series with a 3-1 games lead. The Knights can clinch the series in San Jose Thursday.
VGK forward Max Pacioretty scored two goals and Shea Theodore added a highlight-reel puck-handling goal with 47 seconds left in period one. Fleury added the shutout, delivering free dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts to each fan who was in the Big Ice House on the Strip.
The Knight’s Vow postseason ticket program appeared to keep few Sharks fans from buying tickets and attending Game 4. VGK season ticket holders who took the “Knight’s Vow” and promised to not re-sell their tickets get to pay less for their tickets than fans who don’t take the vow to keep the option open of re-selling their playoff tickets. The strategy, the Knights management says, is designed to maximize the number of VGK fans at playoff games at T-Mobile Arena. It began in season 1.
Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said the shutout was a “Fleury shutout” not a team shutout and credited the star goalie with backstopping the win even though the team didn’t play it best for the first two periods. You can catch Gallant’s postgame comments here.
Here are some of those Gallant comments.
Let’s go to the postgame interviews. First, Tuch.
Now, Theodore.
And let’s move to VGK defenseman Nate Schmidt talking about the Max Pacioretty-Paul Statsny-Mark Stone line that is dominating the Sharks in the first round.
The home ice crowd was another giant gathering of VGK fans. LVSportsBiz photographer J. Tyge O’Donnell captured some of the fan images at Game 4, including some fun photos of forward Jonathan Marchessault warming up and seeing his kids in the stands.
LVSportsBiz.com will continue the Golden Knights postseason coverage this week. Look for our stories.
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