9 years later, Golden Knights’ 1st home game still ‘a special night’

Saturday marked the nine-year anniversary of the Golden Knights’ first home game at T-Mobile Arena, a night that came just days after the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting. The game against the Arizona Coyotes was not scheduled for national television under normal circumstances, but the schedule makers chose to pit the two desert teams against each other, drawing viewers who wanted to see a grieving city come together.

The Knights used the occasion to honor the 58 victims of the shooting, with a pregame introduction that included first responders and healthcare professionals. As the ovations for those responders grew louder, the arena fell into a 58-second silence with the victims’ names on the ice, so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. Original Misfit forward James Neal described the night as having 'a lot of emotions' and said the energy in the building ranged from smiles to tears, calling it 'rocking' and 'kind of a blur looking back at it'.

Defenseman Deryk Engelland delivered a passionate pregame speech from center ice that still lives in the city’s lore. Tomas Nosek scored the first home goal in team history just 2:31 into the game, a goal so quiet due to the low-humming goal horn that it was barely audible—prompting the team to change the horn shortly after. Engelland then amplified the noise less than two minutes later with a blast from the point to make it 2-0. Neal added two more goals to finish with five in the first three games, as the Knights won 4-0.

Then-general manager George McPhee had said the Knights had to get that night right, and they did. The team later held a 'Welcome to Impossible Knight' event against the Los Angeles Kings to honor the first-year team that defied logic and reached the Stanley Cup Final seven months later. Before that game, fans wore gray jerseys to mark the last time the original grays would be worn in the sweater rotation, a reminder that reflecting on that inaugural team cannot happen without remembering the night of Oct. 10, 2017.

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal