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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Omer Khan
It’s Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday today and if there ever was a sports league that could use some diversity it’s the National Hockey League.
The NHL is well aware that it needs to add more players and team employees with more diverse backgrounds, which is why the league in October released a diversity and inclusion report.
The Vegas Golden Knights played a 3 PM game on MLK Day here in Las Vegas, hosting the Dallas Stars and their coach Pete DeBoer, who was fired by the Golden Knights last season when the team failed to qualify for the postseason for the first time in five seasons.
DeBoer has transitioned nicely to Dallas, a team with 59 points and anchored by a solid defense and goaltender, Jake Oettinger. DeBoer, like the Knights’ coach, Bruce Cassidy, is heading to the NHL All-Star Game in Southern Florida in Sunrise, Fla.
After the satisfying win, DeBoer told a funny story about how he chugged a Bud Light beer for a big game in team tradition with the Stars in Vegas playing the VGK — his former club. DeBoer said he enjoyed living in Las Vegas — he had a place in Summerlin. LVSportsBiz.com even bumped into DeBoer at a local Albertsons grocery store in Summerlin near the end of last season and DeBoer blended in nicely with the locals.
The Knights have struggled with breakouts and the Stars took advantage of a lame zone exit by the VGK to score the game’s first tally in period one. Winger Jamie Benn cashed in with a wrister for his 17th goal and the Stars led, 1-0, after one period.
Some of the Knights players may take afternoon naps, which may explain why the VGK looked sleepy in the first period with only six shots on goal.
The Monday holiday game had an announced attendance of 17,895.
The Knights had some scoring chances in period two, especially toward the end of the middle stanza on a power play.
But Dallas went into the intermission with a 2-0 lead thanks to a goal by Joel Kiviranta from the point.
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Paying a visit to his old haunt today was Dallas defenseman Colin Miller, a former Misfit from VGK Year 1.
An in-game entertainer also made his return to T-Mobile Arena. Cameron Hughes did his dance routine during the game.
The Knights offense lacked spark. Defensemen Shea Theodore (his bobblehead was handed out Monday) and Zack Whitecloud were out with injuries and so were Mark Stone and William Carrier.
With just over 12 minutes left in period three, Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter wristed the puck toward the net and the puck beat VGK goalie Logan Thompson. It gave Dallas a 3-0 lead.
Tyler Seguin dropped the puck into an empty net and that was your final: Dallas 4 Vegas 0.
Not NHL effort tonight — Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy