The Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings will meet in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena.
Steve Carp
Former Golden Knights reporter
A five-time Nevada Sportswriter of the Year, Steve Carp wrote for the Review-Journal from October 1999 to 2018. He was the beat writer for the Vegas Golden Knights and National Hockey League. He also covered UNLV basketball, USA basketball, the NBA Summer League, boxing, golf and tennis. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y. and a 1980 graduate of San Jose State with a degree in Journalism, he is member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame.
The Knights, who won the Pacific Division in their inaugural NHL season, will face the Los Angeles Kings, with Game 1 of the best-of-7 series expected to begin Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena.
Forward Reilly Smith returned to the lineup Saturday in the regular-season finale against Calgary after missing 15 games with an upper-body injury.
Players and coaches from both teams expressed their sympathy for the victims of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team after 14 were killed in a bus crash Friday in Saskatchewan.
Forward Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Luca Sbisa flew to Calgary from Las Vegas to work out with the Golden Knights on Friday.
If the Golden Knights end the regular season Saturday with their second consecutive loss, coach Gerard Gallant won’t get too uptight. He would prefer that his team get through its game at Calgary with no injuries.
Michael Cammalleri broke a 2-2 tie in the third period, and the Edmonton Oilers rallied to defeat the Golden Knights 4-3 Thursday night at Rogers Place.
Collegiate free agent defenseman Zach Whitecloud from Bemidji State was in the lineup Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers nearly a month after he signed with the Golden Knights March 8.
Coach Gerard Gallant has been resting players either at practice or from games as the Knights look to get healthy for next week’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Golden Knights backup goaltender Malcolm Subban knows Marc-Andre Fleury will get most of, if not all, the work when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin next week and he’s fine with that.
Brandon Pirri hadn‘t played a minute for the Golden Knights all season. But watching him on the ice at Rogers Arena Tuesday, you would have thought he was a first-line guy from opening night.
Forward Reilly Smith did not dress for the game with the Vancouver Canucks, but he hopes to get back into the lineup before the playoffs begin next week.
The center needs one goal to reach 30 for the season as his career year winds down with three games to play.
Golden Knights president Kerry Bubolz was pleased with the response from season ticket members to agree not to see their playoff tickets online.
Focus is on getting ready for the postseason and using final three regular-season games to get lineup settled and give banged up players a chance to heal before playoffs begin April 11.