By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The Old Miracle hockey team met the New Miracle hockey team at the Big Ice House by the Strip Saturday night.
With the 1980 U.S. Miracle on Ice team in the building, the Vegas Golden Knights — which made history with a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017-18 — knocked off the scrappy Florida Panthers, 5-3, to complete a five-for-five sweep of the five-game homestand. VGK improved to 33-22-8 with the win and have reached 74 points with a Sunday game in Anaheim scheduled with the Ducks.
There was nostalgia in the building with the miracle Olympic team players honored before the game with a key to the Las Vegas Strip. The Knights announced attendance at 18,480.
Not only was the U.S. Olympic team’s 40th anniversary gold medal and win over the powerful Soviet Union hockey team honored, it was also a historic game for the Golden Knights, which had its first Las Vegas native in the lineup with Gage Quinney centering the fourth line between Tomas Nosek and Ryan Reaves. Here’s a video interview of the 24-year-0ld at his locker after the game:
Florida jumped out to a 1-0 lead in period one.
But then Nosek knotted the score at one. He gets the congrats from teammates here during period one.
Tomas Nosek gets congrats on his first period goal.
In period two, Max Pacioretty scored his 29th of the season in the final minute of the period to give the VGK a 3-2 lead after two periods. William Carrier also scored to knot the game at two in period two.
Here’s Carrier ripping a goal past Panthers goalie Sam Montembeault.
Here’s Carrier post-game:
To open period three, Reilly Smith blasted a shot from the right side to give the Knights a 4-2 lead a mere 19 seconds into the final stanza. Here’s Smith post-game at his locker.
Fans also cheered when the VGK put the UNLV upset score of 66-63 over the previously undefeated San Diego State basketball team on the center Jumbotron.
Here’s some of VGK coach Pete DeBoer’s comments:
After 33 home dates, the Knights are averaging 18,301 attendance at T-Mobile Arena, where VGK is filling the venue to 105.4 percent of capacity.
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