By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The LA Kings have haunted the Vegas Golden Knights once again at the Big Ice House by the Strip.
Maybe you recall the Kings’ prior win over VGK this season when LA ambushed the Knights, 4-0, after the first period. There were boos from the VGK faithful after the first period that night.
Well, the Kings jumped out again over the Golden Knights with a 3-0 lead by the second period Sunday evening and knocked off Vegas, 4-1, before an announced crowd of 18,419.
The LA win stopped the Golden Knights from winning their ninth consecutive game.
It’s not like the Knights didn’t have their chances. They responded by outplaying the Kings in period two and had more shots on goal than LA for the game, 43-17.
Standings:
VGK coach Pete DeBoer said he didn’t think his team wasn’t ready to play. Coming back from a 2-0 deficit is hard in the NHL, DeBoer said. Here are his comments after the game:
Here’s a subdued Reilly Smith at his locker after the game:
VGK forward Paul Stastny:
Defenseman Nate Schmidt:
In the VGK lineup were Tomas Nosek anchoring the Chaos Line line between Bash Brothers Ryan Reaves and William Carrier and just-called up Brandon Pirri with newcomer Nick Cousins and versatile Nic Roy on the third line. With forward Mark Stone week-to-week with a leg injury, Chandler Stephenson has been moved up to the second line with William Karlsson and Max Pacioretty. And in goal was Flower, Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pumping up the crowd was local radio personality Wayne Danielson, known as Big D.
The Knights enjoyed another big crowd. After 36 home dates, the VGK are averaging 18,311 a game, or filling the arena to 105.4 percent of capacity. The Knights say capacity is 18,367 at T-Mobile Arena.
The Kings jumped out to a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game with a goal by LA veteran Anze Kopitar — his 19th of the season. Kopitar added his second goal of the game (his 20th) on a power play about six minutes later and the Knights were down, 2-0.
Even Knights fan igniter Cameron Hughes and Blue Man Group could not spark the Knights in period one.
Midway through period two, Trevor Lewis fired a shot past Fleury and LA led, 3-0.
Shea Theodore scored the Knights’ lone goal of the game with 6:46 left in period two to cut the lead to 3-1. It was Theodore’s 11th of the season.
During the second period, the Knights did convert a Kings fan to the VGK with their pledge ceremony that’s one of the team’s better promotions. Check it out here:
The Kings’ Alex Iafallo scored a power play goal with 56 seconds left in the second period and LA took a 4-1 lead into period three.
The VGK stepped it up in period two by outshooting the Kings, 18-7. But after two periods, the Kings led the Knights by three goals.
The Knights fans did enjoy Benny the skating dog between periods two and three.
The Knights could not solve Kings goaltender Calvin Petersen. The Golden Knights had some terrific scoring chances in the second and third periods.
But in the end, it was Kings 4 Knights 1 and the Golden Knights music crew played, “Don’t Stop Believing,” in the final minute of the game.
The VGK’s next game is Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena as the Knights host the New Jersey Devils.
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