Vegas tragedy puts ‘damper’ on NHL team’s home opener

• The city’s first major professional sports team opens at home Tuesday night on the Las Vegas Strip, a short walk from where a gunman carried out an unthinkable attack that left 58 people dead. Fans are expected to pack the T- Mobile Arena to watch the Vegas Golden Knights against the Arizona Coyotes in a debut more than three years in the making.

Hockey will still be played. But the celebration will have to wait. “This terrible event has kind of put a damper on opening night,” Knights owner Bill Foley said. “We’re going to be very respectful and pay tribute to the first responders and victims. That’s kind of our job. We’re the Las Vegas team and this is going to be the first event following the massacre.”

Las Vegas r emains a sombre place, even as tourists continue the never- ending party on the Strip. Hospitals are still caring for victims, some in critical condition, and the cleanup at the site of the massacre continues.

A hockey game isn’t going to suddenly make things better. But there will be prayers for those killed and wounded, and praise for those who went in to try to save them.

Then there will be hockey on the highest level, as Las Vegas joins the ranks of cities with major sports franchises for the first time.

“We can do the celebratory activity in our second game on Friday,” Foley said. “We just deferred all of that and thought we should just focus on helping the victims any way we can.”

Two games into the season, the Golden Knights are a surprising 2- 0. They begin play at home under lessthan- ideal conditions, eager to do their part to provide some entertainment to a city still in mourning.