By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
ANAHEIM, California — Their team color is orange, their arena still has a cozy hockey barn feel after nearly 33 years and their giant drone-controlled inflatable duck flies through a sold-out and raucous Honda Center during the pregame festivities.
The arena organist, Lindsay Imber, is playing tunes from her dedicated perch in the arena rafters.
The Anaheim Ducks’ Honda Center offers a different vibe than the over-the-top VGK game experience at T-Mobile Arena right off the Strip.
But when it came to hockey Friday night, the Golden Knights have one player who set them apart from Anaheim — forward Mitch Marner, who delivered a natural hat trick to extend the VGK lead from 2-0 to 5-0 from the waning seconds of the first period through the second period.
Marner’s three-goal spree led the Knights to a 6-2 win and a two games to 1 lead in the Best-of-7 second round series. The VGK-Ducks winner plays the Colorado-Minnesota winner for a berth in the Stanley Cup final.
After Shea Theodore scored early in the first period, Marner set up defenseman Brayden McNabb for a shorthanded goal in the first. Theodore and McNabb are a defensive pairing and LVSportsiz.com does not recall both Theodore and McNabb scoring in the same game let along the same period.
Marner then scored with a mere five seconds left in the first period as VGK led, 3-0, going into the first intermission.
Then midway through the second period, Marner toyed with the Ducks again, putting the puck behind Ducks goalie Ville Husso, who has replaced Lukas Dostal. It was 5-0 when Anaheim scored twice before red-hot
Game 4 is Sunday at the Honda Center.