Listless Golden Knights Lose, 3-0, In Arizona Friday; Vegas 10-Game Winning Streak Is Over
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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Just the facts: Arizona Coyotes 3 Vegas Golden Knights 0
Takeaway: Arizona snapped VGK’s 10-game winning streak.
Records: Knights 35-12-2 for 72 points, Colorado 32-12-4 for 68 points with one less game
VGK offense: No juice
Key missing player: Jonathan Marchessault
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Lan Beyster is a fun-loving Golden Knights fan who shares her upbeat mojo no matter where she roots for the Vegas club.
Beyster, a northwest valley resident, was in Glendale Friday, hanging in a suite with three Misfits fan club pals.
Price: $1,200 for the four tickets — or $300 a seat.
In fact, the Gila River Arena becomes T-Mobile Arena South as VGK fans spend thousands of dollars on flights, drives and tickets to follow the Knights play the Arizona Coyotes, desperate for points in pursuit of the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division.
Beyster and pals are back at the arena in Glendale, Arziona with four lower bowl tickets at $250 a piece.
VGK fan Lisa Wang, hanging out with Beyster, said of the VGK fan contingent in Arizona tonight: “A lot it seems. All around. They’re everywhere it seems.”
The Knights offense struggled during the first two periods as Coyotes goalie Adin Hill stopped al 17 VGK shots on goal.
It was 1-0, with Arizona leading after the first two periods. The Coyotes John Hayden scored his second goal of the season at 9:13 of the first period for the lone goal after the first 40 minutes.
Only 90 seconds into the final stanza, the Coyotes; Michael Bunting scored to give Arizona a 2-0 edge.
The Coyotes added an empty-net goal and that was your final: 3-0, Arizona with the W.
VGK majority owner Bill Foley hopes that the home arena off the Strip is filled at 50 percent capacity for games in May, such as the Blues vs Knights games May 7 and 8, according to a media report. Right now, capacity is 22 percent in the building, or 3,950 fans.
The Golden Knights franchise is known for its fan per-capita spending, so bumping up attendance to 8,500 to 9,000 would be a major jolt in revenue in ticket sales and merchandise income.
VGK netminder Robin Lehner was back in goal based on the netminder every-other-game rotation under VGK coach Pete DeBoer. I spoke with psychologist Stacy Feiner about Lehner shining a light on mental health issues.
The Knights and Coyotes go at it again on Saturday at Gila River Arena. Marchessault is day-to-day, DeBoer said.
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