Sensational send-off

Exuberant Knights fans gather to support team

Adouble-overtime loss the night before didn’t stop hundreds of fans from rallying Sunday afternoon to send off the Golden Knights on their next quest in San Jose for Games 3 and 4.

Las Vegas natives Cory Anderlohr, 28, and Alyssa De Quina, 27, were among

more than 200 people, many clad in gray-andgold jerseys, who showed up at City National Arena in Summerlin to wish the Knights good luck.

Anderlohr and De Quina also were at Saturday night’s nail-biter at T-mobile Arena, which San Jose won 4-3 to even the second-round, best-of-seven series at a game apiece. The Knights’ Jonathan Marchessault had a goal disallowed late in the first overtime before San Jose’s Logan Couture converted on a power play in the second

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overtime.

“It was a tough loss. We were already celebrating a win,” Anderlohr said. “We thought we won, and then all of a sudden we lost. It was tough because we thought we had it in the bag.”

Hundreds of fans also rallied during the first round to send off the Knights before they completed a sweep of the Los Angeles Kings.

“You gotta support (the team) no matter what,” Anderlohr said. “I’ve never been a hockey fan until the Golden Knights came to Vegas. I was born and raised here, and we’ve never had a (major league) sports team. But as soon as we got a team, I became a hockey fan overnight. It’s magical, honestly.”

De Quina nodded in agreement, as the Knights’ drum line played over the roar of the crowd.

“The timing of us getting a team, too, with everything that happened on 1 October,” she said, pausing as the drum line passed, “it gave the city something to rally behind and gave us something to cheer for.”

Nearby, Rodney Gilbert, a 40-yearold Las Vegas transplant from Louisiana, danced by himself to the beat of the drums. He said hockey had never crossed his mind before this season.

Now, he’s obsessed.

“This is my first hockey team, ever. They turned me into a hockey fan,” he said Sunday, bobbing his head. “Look at the energy that we all bring. The team brings people together.”

Games 3 and 4 in San Jose will be at 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, and both will be shown on NBC Sports Network. The Knights will return home for Game 5 at 7 p.m. Friday, also on NBC Sports Network. Game 6, if necessary, would be Sunday at San Jose. A Game 7 would be May 8 at T-mobile. Games 6 and 7 would be played at a time to be determined.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.