Golden Knights Do Not Eliminate Vancouver In Game 5 Tuesday, Will Try Again Thursday After 2-1 Loss

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

Not tonight for the Vegas Golden Knights.

They dominated the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 of the Best-of-7 Western Conference semifinals in zone time and shots.

But not on the scoreboard as Vancouver stayed alive in the series by winning, 2-1, and cut the VGK series lead to three games to two.

Thatcher Demko came up big for Vancouver Tuesday. Photo by NHL.

VGK defenseman Shea Theodore had a nifty, highlight-reel puck-handling goal to give the Knights a 1-0 lead in period two, but Vancouver bounced back with an equalizer a mere 24 seconds later.

Early in the third period, the Golden Knights were outshooting Vancouver, 29-12, but trailed 2-1 after Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson re-directed a shot to put the Canucks ahead.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko was brilliant, making his first postseason appearance in replacement of starter Jacob Markstrom. It was reminiscent of Chicago’s Corey Crawford goalie performance against the VGK in Game 4 to keep the Blackhawks alive in the playoffs’ first round. Demko stopped 43 VGK shots. The Knights had 44 shots to Vancouver’s 17.

Photo by NHL

Game 6 of VGK vs Vancouver is Thursday. During the day today, the Golden Knights contacted fans about a deal to rent a suite at T-Mobile Arena to watch Game 6 Thursday. It turned out there would be a Game 6 after all.


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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.