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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The likes of rapper Lil Jon, magician Mat Franco and entrepreneur Jon Taffer appear on the VGK center scoreboard welcoming fans to the Golden Knights vs Chicago NHL game. Then the franchise known for setting the standard for glitzy pregame shows presented a video of a knight fighting a foe with red rock terrain as the backdrop.
The video looked new and it’s part of running a major league team in Las Vegas, where everything is louder, outlandish and even obnoxiously over the top.
This is old hat for the Vegas Golden Knights from the days of Year 1 under in-game entertainment guru Jonny Greco.
The VGK are still going strong with reliable voices Bruce Cusick (PA announcer) and Carnell Johnson (“Golden Pipes” anthem singer) getting fans juiced for VGK home games.
The Knight broke out to a 1-0 lead tonight against the Blackhawks and former VGK defenseman Alec Martinez when Keegan Kolesar hit the twine with a shot, beating Chicago netminder Petr Mrazek in the first before an announced crowd of 18,290.
After Nick Foligno snuck in behind the VGK defense and tied the game at one apiece, Nic Hague notched his fourth goal of the season to give the VGK a 2-1 lead.
Vegas added a power play goal by Ivan Barbashev — his 17th — when he redirected an Alex Pietrangelo slapshot. VGK was up, 3-1.
Assist man Jack Eichel walked in and fed Tomas Hertl for a Hertl goal on the power play late in the first period. It was Eichel’s 51st assist on the season.
The damage was not done. Pavel Dorofeyev took a puck off the boards and skated in on Mrazek, firing a shot past the beleaguered goalie with about a minute left in period one.
After one period: Vegas 5 Chicago 1.
The Blackhawks countered with two goals in the middle stanza before Kolesar struck again for his second goal and a VGK 6-3 lead after two periods.
But Chicago scored twice in the third and the VGK were clinging to a 6-5 lead midway through the third period after the Knights jumped out to a 5-1 lead after the first 20 minutes.
VGK coach Bruce Cassidy could not be pleased with Vegas’ defensive play.
Barbashev added his second goal of the game for the VGK 7-5 final score.
The Knights play New Jersey here in Vegas Sunday at 5 PM.
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