Alex Pietrangelo talks Las Vegas adjustment, ‘Oh, boy’ moment

It was never going to be easy for Alex Pietrangelo to leave the only NHL franchise he had known this offseason.

His transition wasn’t made any easier by the circumstances. His family had to pack up and move from St. Louis in the middle of a pandemic after he signed a seven-year, $61.6 million contract with the Golden Knights in October. The defenseman also didn’t get as much time in the preseason as he normally would to adjust to his new team, and he’s faced restrictions when trying to get to know his teammates.

“You don’t have the usual team bonding stuff where you get to go out for dinners and do stuff,” Pietrangelo said. “It’s been a little bit of a challenge in terms of that.”

Pietrangelo discussed his adjustments to Las Vegas, his Stanley Cup championship with the Blues and more with the Review-Journal’s Golden Edge podcast. Here’s a few highlights from the conversation. Check out the full interview below or on podcast platforms such as Itunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

On adjusting to a new team with a shortened training camp and on preseason games

“It was a little bit different. You’re kind of learning on the go, right? When you’ve been somewhere for so long, everything kind of becomes second nature. I’d say for the first maybe 10, 15 games I was still doing stuff, catching myself saying ‘OK, that’s not how we do it. That’s how we used to do it.’ It’s an adjustment period. I was understanding it and a bit of a realist. I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect right off the bat. There were going to be tendencies I would have to break. But I think now that the season’s progressed, I feel more comfortable in the system.”

On being caught saying “Oh, boy” before Nathan MacKinnon’s goal at Lake Tahoe

“I saw him coming. I knew I was in trouble. I was at one end of the ice in the corner, and he was at the other end of the ice going full speed. I knew it wasn’t going to be a good situation. Obviously, I didn’t want him to score. That wasn’t the idea. But now, you think back, something like that happens all the time. I think it was good entertainment.”

On his takeaways from his Stanley Cup win with the Blues

”Well, chemistry, one. You need depth, obviously. And you got to keep that even keel throughout the whole season and the playoffs. There’s a lot of ups and downs. Even in the playoffs, we were inches, centimeters away from losing to Dallas when Jamie Benn had the wraparound. We all thought it went in, we thought it was over, and then we go on and win. The emotions of the game are so high and so low, and you have to push everything out. Distractions, fans, family, people. You just kind of have to push that all away and keep your eye on the prize and keep pushing because nobody goes 16-0 in the playoffs.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.