VGK Win Shootout Against Anaheim After Blowing 4-1 Lead In Third Period Friday; Golden Knights Lead NHL In Attendance Capacity Percentage
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Just the facts: Vegas Golden Knights 5 Anaheim Ducks 4 in shootout thanks to scores by Nic Roy and Evgenii Dadonov
Storyline: Golden Knights blow 4-1 lead in period three after dominating period one, but win shootout
VGK goal scorers: Reilly Smith, Nic Hague, Chandler Stephenson, William Carrier
Attendance: 18,029
Streak: Three wins for VGK, now 4-4 after eight games
Quote: “It was like five games in one.” — VGK coach Pete DeBoer
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Pay no attention to all those open seats at the end of Vegas Golden Knights home games at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights are filling T-Mobile Arena to 103.4 percent of capacity — tops in the 32-team National Hockey League. Those empty seats are paid for, likely by season ticket holders.
Washington is at 100.4 percent of capacity, followed by Seattle at 100.3 percent, and Boston and Tampa Bay at 100 percent.
The Golden Knights say capacity at T-Mobile Arena is 17,367, which is fixed-seating capacity. The VGK sell lots of standing room only tickets for the flight deck area. The VGK attendance through the first four home games were 18,431 for Seattle Oct. 10, 17,690 for St. Louis Oct. 20, 17,978 for Edmonton Oct. 22 and 17,699 for the New York Islanders Oct. 24.
Overall, the Knights are averaging attendance of 17,949 — good for eighth in the NHL before Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks..
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About 45 minutes before puck drop, the cheapest VGK ticket on the team’s site is $27.
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The VGK say today’s Nevada Day 5 PM crowd is 18,029 at T-Mobile Arena.
Speaking of attendance, Buffalo is last in the NHL, averaging 7,790 fans per game. Then, it’s Ottawa at 10,954 per game.
After tonight’s home game, the Knights hit the road to Canada for games against the Maple Leafs, Senators and Canadiens and then a game against the Red Wings in Detroit. Then it’s home starting Nov. 9 for a six-game homestand.
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After one period, the Knights led, 1-0, on a goal by Misfit Reilly Smith. But it easily could have been 3-0 or 4-0 as the Ducks defense was MIA and the Knights outshot, Anaheim, 21-8. It was Smith’s second goal of the season.
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In period two, VGK defenseman Nic Hague blasted in his second goal of the game a little more than three minutes into the middle stanza. Marchy and Petro provided the assists. The Knights led, 2-0.
But the Knights had a lapse in defense in front of goalie Robin Lehner and a wide-open Trevor Zegras took a pass from behind the net from Sonny Milano and fired the puck into the upper corner of the net. VGK 2 Anaheim 1.
Our mask-less fans photo of the day goes to this bunch.
The Knights do not require proof of vaccination for fans to attend home games. Fans do need to mask up to comply with state/local indoor mask requirement. But many blow off the mask.
After two periods: VGK 2 Ducks 1
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At the start of period three, Marchessault sprung Chandler Stephenson, who got behind the Ducks defense and deked Anaheim goalie Gibson to give the Knights a 3-1 lead.
Then, Stephenson fed William Carrier, who fired home a goal, extending the Knights lead to 4-1.
Then things went downhill for the Knights.
The Ducks cut the VGK lead to 4-2 with about eight minutes to go in period three with a goal by Troy Terry
And then Anaheim scored two more as the VGK defense weakened. Isac Lundestrom and Adam Henrique notched the third and fourth goals.
And it was off to overtime as the Knights blew a 4-1 lead. It’s 4-4.
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The Knights were down to their last shootout shot when Nic Roy deked goalie Gibson and deposited a backhander into the back of the net to extend the shootout.
After a Lehner stop it was Evgenii Dadonov’s score that gave the Knights a 5-4 shootout win — their third straight victory.
The Knights are now 4-4 after eight games.
NHL scores:
And the Anaheim angle:
