**Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Famer, Steve Carp’s returns to SinBin.vegas for the 2021 season. His weekly column publishes every Sunday during the Golden Knights season and is brought to you by the Jimmerson Law Firm.**
Give the NHL this — it is willing to think outside the box when it comes to staging these outdoor hockey events.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature, like the coronavirus, doesn’t give a damn about aesthetic beauty, the NHL, or NBC. The sun was determined to shine and thus destroyed what was going to be an uplifting occasion for hockey fans everywhere.
So the Golden Knights and Avalanche started, stopped, then started again well into Saturday night in an attempt to complete a game and hand out the two points that came with it to the winner, which was Colorado, 3-2. Let’s not forget that amid the fabulous scenery of Lake Tahoe, these are two teams that are battling for the top spot in the West Division and are among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup come July. The outcome mattered. Just like Monday’s outcome at Ball Arena in Denver will matter.
When the Knights show up in Colorado Monday night, they do so with their first taste of adversity this year as they are dealing with their first losing streak of the season. It’s only two games, but they don’t want it to manifest itself beyond that.
Points have been garnering my attention since this four-game series between the Knights and the Nordiques, er, Avalanche was announced. Everyone has had their eyes on this matchup and the fact that the Knights had won Tuesday and should’ve come away with a point Thursday tells you how closely matched these teams are and how likely they are on a collision course to meet in the playoffs.
These are games that are easy for players to get up for. It’s best vs. best in the division and when the sheet is fast, as was the case at the Fortress earlier in the week and will likely be quick in Denver on Monday, the quality of play goes up a few notches.
Right now, Colorado is the better team.