THIS HOME OPENER WILL BE LIKE NO OTHER
Golden Knights will introduce themselves just as Las Vegas is beginning to heal
“This is not about us,” George McPhee said. “This is not a typical opening night.”
You don’t have to travel far on South Las Vegas Boulevard to understand what the general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights means by that. Walk five minutes south of T-Mobile Arena, where the NHL expansion team will play their first home game on Tuesday, and you will see a makeshift memorial in front of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Lit candles, flowers, teddy bears, pictures and signs are clustered together in the centre median of the street. There’s a bouquet hanging out of a pair of cowboy boots, a Canadian flag with a peace sign in the middle of the Maple Leaf and a Boston Strong T-shirt.
On Oct. 1, a lone gunman shot and killed 58 concertgoers and wounded nearly 500 from his 32nd floor room. The wounds are still fresh: Two windows where the shootings occurred have been replaced with what looks like plywood. Minus the yellow crime scene tape, the stage and signage for Route 91 Harvest festival are still visible — eerie reminders of what happened just down the street shortly after the Golden Knights played the San Jose Sharks in a pre-season game.
“We didn’t know until lunchtime the next day that everyone (on the hockey team) was OK,” head coach Gerard Gallant told Postmedia News on Monday. “Obviously you worried a lot, but then the texts started coming in that the players were all accounted for. They were downtown, but they were in restaurants.”
Gallant was at the airport picking up his daughter when the shooting occurred. He remembers seeing a stream of police cars and ambulances heading downtown. His first thoughts went to the safety of his players, several of whom had talked about attending the concert that night.
Talking about it more than a week later, he still gets choked up.
“It’s going to be real tough,” Gallant said of Tuesday’s game. “As a coach, I’m trying to prepare my team for a game, but it’s going to be much more than a hockey game. It’s our first inaugural game, but it’s so much more than that with the tragic events that happened.”
The Golden Knights will save their opening ceremonies for Friday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Tuesday will be about honouring the victims, their families and the first responders. McPhee said it would be “respectful and dignified.”
But maybe the hockey game can be part of the healing process. Maybe it can provide a temporary escape, a few hours of entertainment during a difficult time.
“Well, a hockey team is a small thing in relation to this,” McPhee said, “but if it provides an escape for people for a few hours — if our first two wins put a smile on peoples’ faces — then every little bit helps. But this is much bigger than us. We recognize that and we have to respect that.”
In a way, the Golden Knights have done their part. This was supposed to be a lousy team, as most expansion teams are right out of the gates. But Vegas defeated the Dallas Stars 2-1 in their season opener and the following night came from behind in a 2-1 overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes.
James Neal, who has three goals and a pair of game-winners, has rediscovered his scoring touch. Marc-Andre Fleury, who was named the second star of the week after allowing two goals on 74 shots, has been nearly unbeatable. The entire team, perhaps riding a wave of emotion, is playing with house money.
“It’s been a great start for our team, obviously,” Gallant said. “Fleury’s been outstanding for our team in both those games. The team worked really hard and played really hard in both those games. There’s going to be some tough days, but we’re really excited so far. It gives you a boost of confidence for sure.”
The Golden Knights will try to continue that success against the Coyotes on Tuesday. But they will try to do more than that. For one night, they will try to honour the victims while giving hope to the survivors.
“Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll get to the arena and with the ceremonies it will be tough, but after that we have a hockey game to play and hopefully the guys are prepared real well and we have a good night,” Gallant said. “It’s going to be a tough night for a lot of people. We know that.”
If it provides an escape for people for a few hours … every little bit helps.