The Vegas Golden Knights have a lot to celebrate in the first week of March 2021 with fans returning to T-Mobile Arena and extending their longest winning streak of the season to six games.
The Sharks
VGK swept their bitter rivals the San Jose Sharks in back-to-back games this past Friday and Saturday in impressive fashion. The sweep took place at the SAP Center in San Jose after a spirited two-game-winning homestand against the Minnesota Wild in front of their Vegas fans for the first time this year.
The Knights have not lost their flair for the dramatic with an overtime win on the Friday night Mar 5 game where they defeated the Sharks 5-4. Max Pacioretty, who finished with two goals and one assist, notched the game-winner in OT (1:25) from the assist of defensemen Alex Pietrangelo. It was his second overtime goal in three games and his third of the season. Vegas goalie Oscar Dansk made his season debut with 25 saves and recorded his first win for VGK since 2017. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury rested after starting the previous 10 games.
On Saturday night Vegas stayed hot and turned up the heat even more with a 4-0 victory. A rested Fluery returned to start and clamped down with 24 saves to complete his fourth shutout of the season and the 65th of his NHL career which now leaves him only one game behind Patrick Roy for 15th place all-time. Knights’ forward Alex Tuch scored twice and now has recorded at least one goal in four consecutive games. The victory which improved the Golden Knights to (16-4-1) lead to the Sharks losing for their fifth time in six games leaving them at (8-11-3).
The Win Streak
Following their loss to Colorado at the NHL Outdoors ‘Winter Classic’ at Lake Tahoe, the Knights bounced back (with no delay) and shutout the Avalanche 3-0 at Ball Arena. The win started their current run of victories which now also includes one over the Anaheim Ducks and two-game sweeps of both the Wild and Sharks. During the six games, Vegas has two shutout wins and have improved on their power play kill percentage which is now 87.72%, second-best in the NHL after Sunday’s games. The Knights offensively have also outscored their opponents 25-11.
The Fans
It took 363 days but fans were allowed back in attendance to T-Mobile Arena to witness the #VegasBorn take the home ice on Monday, Mar 1. The arena met their 15% occupancy mandate which was 2,605 total fans in the building. As mentioned earlier with the dramatics, Vegas does know how to put on a show as they defeated the Minnesota Wild in a special comeback (5-4) victory in overtime off a Pacioretty score (2:00). The Wild came into that contest with a six-game win streak of their own but could not stop the rally after Alex Tuch scored late in the third period with 42 seconds left to tie the game. Captain Mark Stone had five assists.
“You can’t really explain it, but I think we all had that feeling that we knew we were going to come back in that game.”
Vegas Golden Knights left wing Max Pacioretty
The fans at ‘The Fortress’ were treated to a thriller and even with safety measures of mandatory masks being worn and limited concession options they still brought energy to the building. T-Mobile also implemented “Section Groups” of the primarily season ticket holders to keep those fans in those groups in specific areas near their seats to uphold safe distancing. There was also designated sets of times for arrival and departures to attend and let out of the game.
“Our fans are, by far, the best in pro sports, this arena is the best arena in sports. They bring it no matter what. You could feel the energy skating out for warmup.”
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone
Up Next
The Knights face-off against the Minnesota Wild again, this time away at Xcel Energy Center.
The game can be found Monday night Mar 8 at 5 p.m. PT on Fox Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340 and on AT&T SportsNet
Image Credits: Vegas Golden Knights @GoldenKnights (2021, Mar 1). Fans Return In Wild Game. Retrieved Mar 6, 2021, from https://www.vgklifestyle.com/home/2021/3/2/fans-return-in-wild-game
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