Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Puck set to drop for the Golden Knights — this time, it’s for real

Golden Knights and Kings

L.E. Baskow

Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings players line up for the opening faceoff during a preseason game Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, at T-Mobile Arena. The preseason is now over, and the Golden Knights face the Stars in their NHL regular-season debut tonight in Dallas.

The Vegas Golden Knights players realize they are playing for more than themselves tonight in Dallas. The first regular-season game in franchise history, already a historic event two years in the making, quickly took on added meaning this week.

When the puck drops at 5 p.m. PDT at American Airlines Center, it will be less than five days since the tragedy that struck last Sunday, when a shooter rained bullets on a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 59 and injuring nearly 500 others.

That wound is still healing for the city and for members of the team who call Las Vegas their new home.

“You just count your blessings,” Golden Knights defenseman Jon Merrill said. “You realize how lucky we are to be able to play a game. It’s so insignificant to the real world and the problems we have, and when something like this happens you take a step back and realize what’s important in life.”

Tuesday, players visited first responders at Metro Police headquarters, families seeking refuge at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and locals donating blood at United Blood Services.

“Our organization will move heaven and earth to help in this community, and we pledge full support. We will grieve, heal and persevere together,” Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee said.

The organization donated $500,000 to the victims — $200,000 from he (Bill) Foley Family Charitable Trust and $100,000 each from the Golden Knights Foundation, the NHL and the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

“Every time we step on the ice now we are going to be playing for all of the people affected by this terrible tragedy, and we are going to do the best we can every time we’re out there to make people proud of Las Vegas,” Merrill said.

Sports can heal, even if only for the few hours the game is going on as a distraction. Competition can have the same healing effect on the players.

“We’ve all been thinking about it for days,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “You feel awful for the people that were lost. So when you get out there on the ice and get back to work, you can get away from it for a couple hours.”

Vegas enters its first game as a plus-205 betting favorite, which is something the Golden Knights will see a lot of this season since expansion franchises traditionally struggle. Dallas is coming off a disappointing season where it missed the playoffs, but with the additions of Ben Bishop, Marc Methot, Martin Hanzal and Alexander Radulov, the Stars expect to be much improved.

Just don’t count out the motivated Golden Knights. They understand the significance of this one game.

“(Las Vegas) is a big city but it has a small-community feeling,” said Deryk Engelland, one of the team’s captains and a Las Vegas resident for more than a decade since playing for the minor league Las Vegas Wranglers. “I think the city will grow together with this and be stronger.”

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