Not The Knights’ Night: Points-Hungry VGK Drop Lackluster 5-1 Decision To Vancouver Wednesday
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
What can you say after that Golden Knights’ brutal loss to the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday night?
How about the VGK played with as much juice as an iPhone when there’s 1 percent left in the battery?
With the Knights outside the playoffs (for now), the Vegas squad played with a lack of energy and purpose, losing, 5-1, to a Vancouver team that has been dominated by the Golden Knights in the VGK’s five-year history.
At the start of the third period when the Knights trailed, 4-1, defenseman Brayden McNabb drew a two-minute penalty. Then, VGK defenseman Alec Martinez botched a clearing attempt and Vancouver parlayed the error into an easy goal by Elias Pettersson, his second of the game.
It was the Canucks up, 5-1, and this time there would no Chicago-style comeback by the Golden Knights.
We got we deserved . . . We’ll flush it and move on — Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer
With these games meaning so much in light of the Knights trying to scratch and claw into a playoff position, the VGK trailed Dallas by a point for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
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These are strange days for this NHL expansion franchise as the Vegas Golden Knights as of today stand outside the playoffs. The VGK have cruised into the postseason during the first four seasons, but injuries to so many players — especially key players like Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty — have dogged the Knights all season.
Most of the original Misfits like Marc-Andre Fleury, Nate Schmidt, Alex Tuch and Erik Haula are long gone and some of the hardcore fans have stayed away from T-Mobile Arena due to a variety of reasons ranging from ticket prices to COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Announced attendance has still been strong, however, with VGK average attendance at 18,089 — sixth highest in the 32-team league.
Today’s cheapest secondary market ticket on the VGK ticket exchange website for tonight’s Vancouver/Vegas game was $35 plus fees about two hours before the game.
The price had dropped to only $19 right before the 7 PM start.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s VGK vs Arizona game, VGK’s official ticket broker, Pogoseat, texted fans there are $59 upper bowl seats with no fees and mezzanine seats for $99.
For today’s game, the Golden Knights wore Organ Donor Night-theme warmup jerseys to highlight donor awareness. These warmup jerseys will be signed and available for purchase through an online auction.
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The Knights jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by center Jack Eichel with about eight minutes to go in the first period.
But then Vancouver struck back bigtime.
Bo Horvat registered a power play goal, his 28th, to knot the game at one and about 30 seconds later Brad Richardson notched his third of the season to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead with about three minutes left in the first period.
Vancouver had 14 shots on goal to VGK’s eight. After the first 20 minutes, Vancouver 2 Vegas 1
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The Golden Knights endured a brutal second period.
Defensive breakdowns led to two Vancouver goals — Tanner Pearson’s 14th and Elias Pettersson’s 23rd — and the Knights went into the second intermission trailing, 4-1.
The juice in the arena was draining out of the building by the time the horn sounded to end the second period.
There would be no comeback for the Golden Knights. Their next game is Saturday when the Arizona Coyotes visit T-Mobile Arena. The Knights said attendance was 18,113 tonight and there was a fraction of those left in the building when the horn sounded and Vancouver enjoyed the 5-1 in.
PSA
