With COVID Knocking Out NHL Games, Golden Knights Arena Announcers Implore Fans In Venue To Wear Masks; Lightning’s Stamkos Goal Gives Tampa Bay 4-3 Win Over VGK Tuesday
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The Great Mask Blowoff is usually at work at Vegas Golden Knights games. Most fans have not compled with the state’s indoor mask mandate, including owner Bill Foley and General Manager Kelly McCrimmon.
But with more NHL players moving into the COVID-19 protocol and more than 40 NHL games postponed because of COVID problems with teams, T-Mobile Arena PA announcer Bruce Cusick and arena emcee Mark Shunock implored fans here for the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning vs Vegas Golden Knights game to mask up Tuesday evening.
“It’s now more important than ever,” Cusick announced before the game and during a break in the first period with about five minutes left in the period. Nine of the NHL’s 10 games scheduled for Tuesday were scrubbed because of COVID-19 problems with other teams and the league’s scheduled holiday break started two days early from the novel coronavirus impact.
Tonight’s showdown between two of the league’s premier teams is the last game standing as the NHL enters the Pause/Holiday Break with no games until Monday because of the COVID problems besetting teams and hockey markets around the country and in Canada. Clark County’s COVID positivity rate of 8 percent is an increase over the 5.8 percent Nov. 1.
“I wish it didn’t have to be said. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone worked together? As a STH I had to make the hard choice to not go tonight because I had no faith that my fellow attendees would show me the respect of covering their faces so that I don’t die. Awesome,” a Knights fan wrote on Twitter.
Cusick even mentioned the possibility of ejection of fans who refuse to comply with the indoor mask mandate, though one fan on Twitter responded, “T-Mobile ejectIng people for not masking. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Added another fan, Jolie Lindley, said on Twitter of the emphasis on masking up, “Should have been happening every game so far.”
The novel coronavirus has killed 808,000 Americans since March 2020.
Others continue to blow off the mandate:
The Knights are shorthanded tonight because of COVID with top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and forward Evgenii “Who’s Your Daddy” Dadonov in NHL COVID protocol. Daniil Miromanov was inserted in the VGK blueline lineup for Petro. He made the short trip from Henderson to T-Mobile Arena on the Strip.
The Golden Knights do not require fans to show proof of vaccination to attend VGK games. The Raiders and UNLV basketball require proof of vax to attend their home games. The giant CES show coming to Las Vegas in January will require both vaccinations and COVID tests.
NHL players will not be participating in the Winter Olympics in China because of COVID concerns.
It was a stunning juxtaposition to have seen so many unmasked fans at Golden Knights home games before tonight compared to the NHL decisions to shut down 44 games because of COVID problems.
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Tickets for tonight’s game were still available on the Golden Knights Ticket Exchange for as low as $25.
Check the secondary market ticket exchange midway through the first period.
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The Lightning scored first on Gabriel Fortier’s first career goal and point.
But the Knights tied it when a puck deflected off Mark Stone’s skate and into the Tampa net on a power play midway through the first period.
Score after one period: 1-1. The Knights just came off a four-game sweep in Boston and the three New York City-area arenas and had reached first place in their division.
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In period two, Stone scored his second of the night to give VGK a 2-1 lead before Knights centerman Nic Roy made a gorgeous stick-handling dipsy-doo move between Lightning defenders to score on Tampa netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy to give Vegas a 3-1 lead.
But then former Misfit, ol’ Bellsy Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who burned the VGK with a goal when he played with Colorado, scored on Knights goalie Laurent Brossoit,
And then Bolts forward Anthony Cirelli scored the equalizer in the second period and the VGK 3-1 lead was gone as the game was deadlocked at 3-3 after the first 40 minutes.
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Stammer — Lightning star Steven Stamkos — unleashed his patented slap shot from the left side with only four seconds left on a Bolts power play to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead in period three.
The Knights had their chances in the final seconds to tie the score. But Vasilevskiy stopped VGK’s shots. The Knights outshot, Tampa Bay, 41-19.
Dave Goucher’s face summed up the feelings of Knights fans after the 4-3 loss. The Knights are now 20-12 after 32 games.
There’s no Big League hockey until Monday because of COVID and the holiday break,
Final: Tampa Bay Lightning 4 Vegas Golden Knights 3.
