By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
A 12 noon outdoor hockey game on Lake Tahoe under the bright sun transformed into a 12 midnight game on East Coast time under the lights after a lengthy ice melt/slush delay Saturday, with the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights resuming play in period two in Stateline, Nevada.
The marquee NHL regular season game put Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in national bright lights as the Avs forward skated up from over center ice, using his world-class skating and stick-handling skills to fire a laser of a wrist shot past Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to give Colorado a 2-1 lead over Vegas in the second period.
The Knights’ Alec Martinez picked up a loose rebound and fired a goal for the VGK to knot the game at one earlier in the second period.
VGK coach Pete DeBoer discussed his takeaway from the game:
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The first period was a novelty because of the picture-postcard sky lake setting, though NHL’s public relations took a hit because of the rink’s melting ice under a sun during a game that would last 10 hours and 37 minutes.
Things got down to hockey business in period two under the lights when the game restarted at 9 PM PT/12 midnight ET. And by the third period, the Golden Knights struggled to tie the score as VGK had a 5-on-3 advantage for about a minute and a half but failed to even register a serious scoring chance.
It was 24 degrees and 16 degrees with the wind chill mid-way through the final stanza. Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer was solid to seal the 3-2 win as the Knights and Avalanche play game four of their four consecutive games in Denver Monday.
“It’s weird, but feels like a blur,” MacKinnon said after the outdoor game following an eight-hour delay between periods one and two.
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Avs defender Devon Toews scored with less than seven minutes to go in regulation to give the Avs a 3-1 lead.
The Knights’ Alex Tuch scored on a pretty spin-o-rama move and backhander as Grubauer had lost his stick to cut the Avs lead to 3-2 with about 4 1/2 minutes left.
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It looked all pretty on TV and I’m sure it was visually stunning in person, too, to see major league hockey players skate and compete on a rink next to Lake Tahoe, nestled next to pines under a clear sky.
Unfortunately, the ice surface was sub-standard after one period and the 12 noon game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche was delayed after both teams played 20 minutes. The league decided to pause the game and continue it at 9PM tonight Vegas/West Coast time.
The NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe will likely be a nice TV ratings hit in the Las Vegas market, where the Golden Knights are still the only homegrown, organic major league sports team born here in the desert.
But the NHL struck out on the ice quality and didn’t do a very good job anticipating that the sun would melt some ice surface, causing ruts and soft spots.
It started as a great opportunity for NBC and NHL to use this platform to sell big league hockey. Instead, it turned into an embarrassing live TV shpiel as NBC had to fill time as players and hockey fans had to sit around and wait.
It began as a feel-good game to see hockey players skating outdoors in a hockey rink built on the 18th fairway at a golf course resort at Stateline, Nevada. The Avalanche opened the scoring when Colorado defenseman Sam Girard skipped a puck through Fleury.
But with a 34-degree temperature and a sunny day at Lake Tahoe, the ice surface looked sluggish with ruts and players were not exhibiting their typical speed you see in arenas. the sky lake setting was picture-postcard material, but the play on the ice was far from exquisite as players coped with the ice conditions the best they could.
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There were some fun scenes during the day.
The first intermission featured a short NBC item on Golden Knights defenseman Ryan Reaves advocating for more inclusion through growing hockey in Las Vegas.
Workers tended to the ice between the first and second periods, and fans on social media commented about the surface.
Gary Bettman said it was not safe to continue the game, and the game will continue at 9 PM tonight.
“Those on the East Coast, still stay up late,” Bettman said.