Fans in Vegas along for ride with Knights

LAS VEGAS — The Golden Knights’ gold-and-greyon-black helmets are everywhere.

They’re on T-shirts and hats worn by mall patrons, on jerseys of moviegoers, on stuffed animals, on mugs and on bumper stickers deep in suburbia. Bars far from the city’s tourist-driven areas show the games on TV, and watch parties have become a regular activity.

The arena rocks when the expansion team that has taken the league by storm appears on its home ice. A city that for years longed for a major sports franchise has truly embraced the Knights.

“It’s so much different live than it is on TV. It’s a whole different experience,” said David Santangelo, a Las Vegas resident who is a season-ticket holder and longtime hockey fan. “People fall in love with it. So many people I talk to at work are saying that they didn’t know it was so exciting. People are really starting to learn about it now.”

Santangelo was among hundreds who attended a party Monday in downtown Las Vegas to watch Game 3 of the Knights’ secondround playoff series against the Sharks. The Golden Knights have a 3-2 series lead after a 5-3 win Friday night.

For years, questions were raised over whether the tourist-driven city with a long history of hosting big events could support a big league team night after night. Gambling and a relatively small market size steered major franchises elsewhere. Before the Knights dropped the puck, there were naysayers even though initial ticket demand was high.

Average game attendance at T-Mobile Arena is 18,042. Tourists and comped high-rollers have surely caught games. So have tennis greats Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, rapper Lil Jon, poker pro Daniel Negreanu and Nationals slugger Bryce Harper before baseball season started. But defying some of those early predictions, it’s been regular residents and their children who have filled the stands game after game.

The crowds bode well for the NFL’s Raiders, who are due to move to Sin City in 2020.