Like Year 1, Golden Knights Launch Season Six Amid Uncertainty; VGK Say Attendance Was 17,026 For Exhibition Game Against LA Monday
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Well, well, well. Here we are for Year 6 of the NHL Vegas Golden Knights.
There has not been this level of uncertainty about this young franchise since the team’s inaugural season in 2017 when nobody quite knew what to expect from a roster filled with the so-called Misfits.
Tonight is Game 1 of the home preseason schedule and the Golden Knights, once again, have prompted hockey fans to wonder what exactly will this roster produce? The Los Angeles Kings are in Las Vegas this evening for the exhibition match at T-Mobile Arena, or what LVSportsBiz likes to call the Big Ice House by the Strip.
Sure, there are some “name” players like Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Alex Pietrangelo and a few leftover Misfits like well-groomed William Karlsson, feisty Jonathan Marchessault and stick-handling Shea Theodore.
But there is no established starting goaltender like long-gone Marc-Andre Fleury and injured Robin Lehner. Logan Thompson, who came to several Aces games, started tonight.
Interestingly enough, the Disney-style, Miracle-on-Ice Year 1 padded the Golden Knights bank account with lots of multi-season ticket holders, so attendance numbers were still impressive last season when the VGK failed to make the postseason for the first time in five years.
Some fans have grumbled about Golden Knights management and ticket prices, especially when you can go online 15 minutes before the start of a game and buy a ticket on the Knights’ own secondary market ticket reseller for less than what a season ticket holder bought original tickets for.
LVSportsBiz.com returns again with our home game coverage of the arena scenes, ticket prices and player quips about playing in this Las Vegas market.
The Golden Knights once ruled this market by the length of a hockey rink. But the Las Vegas Aces, which draws quite a different demographic than the VGK, are now the darlings of the Vegas market — especially with the NFL Las Vegas Raiders sputtering out to a painful 0-3 start in the 2022 NFL season.
So little is known about this team, which is trying to create a new identity under a new coach — former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, who was ousted only a few months ago after Boston was ousted by the Carolina Hurricanes. Cassidy replaces fired VGK coach Pete DeBoer, who somehow maneuvered the Knights into playoff contention with a boatload of injuries to key players. DeBoer never quite fit into Las Vegas after replacing popular fired coach Gerard Gallant, who steered the New York Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals after Gallant was let go by Vegas in January 2020.
Golden Knights say attendance was 17,026 — a decent number for an exhibition game in the NHL.
Eichel ripped a goal into the upper right corner in the first period about eight minutes into the game, while Kevin Fiala tied the game at one in the second period.
Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie. And for the record, LA’s Adrian Kempe scored the game-winner in OT and the Kings came away with a 2-1 overtime win.
