Golden Knights’ Nice Intro With Glow-in-the-Dark Jerseys Dazzled Fans, Then Things Went Downhill As Canucks Blast VGK, 5-1, Before 18,004 Saturday
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Well, the pregame hoopla was pretty cool to the Vegas Golden Knights vs Vancouver Canucks game Saturday night.
The Golden Knights players entered the ice rink with new glow-in-the-dark retro jerseys and made quite the first impression with the new retro hockey sweaters that’s paying off nicely at retail and VGK stores, too, for the National Hockey League and the Vegas franchise.
Unfortunately, that was the highlight for the Knights as the Vancouver Canucks proceeded to score two power play goals by Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller on shots that VGK goalie Logan Thompson probably didn’t even see with a screener in front of him.
Then midway through period two, Elias Pettersson blasted a power play goal past Thompson from the right circle for a 3-0 lead. It was Pettersson’s 11th of the season.
Then, Vancouver’s Andrei Kuzmenko was cruising in front of Thompson and took a feed from Nils Aman and scored from in close for a Canucks’ 4-0 lead.
At least VGK fans enjoyed their new retro jerseys. Season ticket holders received one free retro jersey for every two season tickets, while others spent at least $190 to buy them in retail stores in the Las Vegas market. If you bought these jerseys with player names and numbers, then the price soared to as high as $290.
Oh by the way, the Canucks scored with a second to go in the second period when Bo Horvat scored his 17th goal of the season.
After two periods, the Canucks were blasting the Knights, 5-0.
In between the second and third periods, Lee Orchard, who plays the VGK “Knight” character (now dressed in black armor instead of gold and looking like a Raiders Darth Vader character), applied some good humor when he introduced DJ Joe Greene.
“We have the Canucks right where we want them,” Orchard told the arena audience.
Vancouver goalie Spencer Martin nearly pitched a shutout, stopping 26 of 27 shots. Jonathan Marchessault put in a goal off a crazy bounce off the glass and the Knights avoided being whitewashed.
It was the second straight disappointing performance by the Knights, which lost to the Seattle Kraken, 4-2, last night.
In the locker room, VGK defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said the Knights had penalty kill problems and used the term, “adversity,” to describe the current situation.
Coach Bruce Cassidy liked the way the Knights played the first seven minutes or so. But perhaps playing five games in eight nights caught up with the club, he noted after the game.
The Knights hit the road before returning to play the New York Rangers at T-Mobile Arena Dec. 7.
