VGK Coach DeBoer Returns To San Jose After Getting Fired, Enjoys Knights’ 3-1 Win At Sharks’ SAP Center During Saturday Matinee
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
As a young NHL team in its fourth season, the Vegas Golden Knights once had a first-year club of players who were let loose by their previous teams. So, VGK players on the first-year Golden Misfits were used to visiting arenas where they used to play.
During Saturday’s Knights’ matinee games in San Jose, former Sharks/current Knights coach Pete DeBoer got the same feeling. DeBoer visited the SAP Center arena for the first time since getting fired by San Jose in December 2019 and hired by the Golden Knights Jan. 15, 2020 to replace fired former VGK coach Gerard Gallant.
“I was just saying to our coaching staff that I haven’t been in the visitors locker room in San Jose since I was with the Devils,” DeBoer said. “You’re looking at about seven or eight years ago.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, which halted last year’s NHL regular season and prompted the league to have a 56-game schedule for 2021, has been the dominant story for the NHL and has overshadowed what has become a burgeoning rivalry between the VGK and San Jose Sharks. But the two teams that played in the VGK’s first two playoff seasons have not played in quite a while.
VGK forward Jonathan Marchessault made that point this week: “Honestly, it’s been a year almost since we played San Jose. The rivalry did fade off a little bit but I think this year is a new year. We have a different team and they have a lot of new players as well. It’s not the same rivalry as we had two years ago.”
On Saturday, the Golden Knights relied on power play goals by Marchessault in period one, team captain Mark Stone in period two and red-hot Chandler Stephenson in period three to polish off the 3-1 win over San Jose at the SAP Center Saturday afternoon. It was the Sharks’ first home game of the season because local Santa Clara County lifted COVID-19 restrictions to allow San Jose to play.
The Knights improved to 9-2-1 before no fans in San Jose, while VGK goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury continued his steady ways and improved to 6-1 on the pandemic season. It was the first VGK game against San Jose in more than a year.
The Golden Knights return to Las Vegas for a 4 PM game against the Colorado Avalanche Sunday — the first of four straight games against the Avs, including an outdoor game on a golf course next to Lake Tahoe in one week.
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The Knights bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Anaheim Thursday.
“We wanted to move our feet a little more,” VGK forward Alex Tuch said. “We caused a lot of chaos (on the power play).”
