As lounge acts go, it probably wouldn’t play on the Las Vegas Strip. Then again, no one ever thought the Vegas Golden Knights would be playing on the Las Vegas Strip – and certainly not as late as Memorial Day.
But play they did, in a wild 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals that officially ended with Elvis singing ”Viva Las Vegas” and the Golden Knights taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
The greatest expansion team ever against a classic underachiever was already a story that has played well even among those who wouldn’t think of watching anything but playoff basketball this time of the year.
But a thrilling Game 1 couldn’t have been scripted any better even if Bettman and Daly had spent their pre-game writing it instead of sitting in front of the media, sharing laughs and a few inside jokes. They completed each other’s sentences, and seemed to be having so much fun that they didn’t want to leave.
And why not? They could have taken a victory lap outside the T-Mobile Arena and no one would have seemed to mind.
They are the architects of NHL expansion, the gatekeepers who decide which cities are in the league and which cities must watch from the sidelines. They came up with the plan – hatched privately a decade ago – for billionaire Bill Foley to pay $500 million to put a team among the gamblers, degenerates and, yes, upstanding citizens of the city where fun never stops.
They then made sure it would work, despite all the naysayers who said hockey would never catch on in the desert and certainly not in a city where there are a lot of other things to do than watch hockey players race up and down the ice.
But even the top league execs didn’t expect this.
”No one saw this coming Derrius Guice Jersey ,” Bettman said.
They didn’t in New York, and they didn’t in Las Vegas. A generous expansion draft helped set the Knights up to be competitive, but competitive doesn’t mean scoring 109 points in the regular season and then going 13-3 in the playoffs.
Competitive doesn’t mean taking the ice on Memorial Day with nearly 19,000 crazed Knights fans cheering them on inside the arena on the Strip and thousands more partying as the game unfolded on big-screen TVs outside.
It was, as Bettman pointed out, 342 days since the expansion draft in the same arena. And what a 342 days it has been for not only the new franchise but a league that took a chance on Sin City when no other league would.
Bettman and Daly rolled the dice that Las Vegas would raise the league’s profile and not just because it isn’t, well, Columbus or Ottawa.
”We thought being in Las Vegas would give hockey a greater presence and make the game stronger,” Bettman said.
The results, at least so far, show that bet paying off. Las Vegas has gone mad over the Golden Knights Derrius Guice Youth Jersey , and hockey is thriving in a town where most ice is made for drinks, not rinks.
And the NHL is on a bit of a roll itself. The controversial decision not to halt play during the middle of the season for the Olympics paid off in increased attention for professional hockey and television ratings for the playoffs, while not nearly up to NBA levels, are up across the board.
And so far no one has said a word about the evils of sports betting and how a major sports franchise can’t exist in a city that allows it.
”This commissioner wasn’t scared by the things other sports leagues may have been scared about,” Daly said.
No one, of course, could have expected a hockey team to help heal a city in the wake of the Oct. 1 massacre that killed 58 people just down the street from the hockey arena. But the Knights helped that cause, too, adopting the Vegas Strong name and honoring victims not only at the opener nine days after the shooting but at games since.
The players – who call themselves the Golden Misfits – have also done their part, both on and off the ice.
”They seem to be playing with the emotion of a higher purpose,” Bettman said.
That’s one reason why the bookies had them favored to beat the Caps and win the iconic trophy before the first puck dropped in Game 1. So far they’ve not only run through every obstacle in their way Denzel Ward Browns Jersey , but smashed through them.
Good times in Las Vegas, and good times for the NHL.
Little wonder that Bettman and Daly couldn’t stop smiling.
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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or Dylan Covey has come a long way since his major league debut last year.
All the way to an increasingly interesting prospect for the rebuilding Chicago White Sox.
Covey carried a shutout into the eighth inning, continuing his impressive June and helping the White Sox beat Trevor Bauer and the Cleveland Indians 3-2 on Wednesday night.
”He kept grinding,” manager Rick Renteria said. ”He kept pitching, getting after it and did a really nice job.”
Covey (3-1) allowed 10 hits – all singles – and walked none. The 26-year-old right-hander improved to 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA in five starts since he was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte last month.
The White Sox got Covey from Oakland in the 2016 Rule 5 draft. He went 0-7 with a 7.71 ERA in 18 games, 12 starts, last season, but he has looked like a different pitcher since returning to the majors.
”I’m just super comfortable, with my mechanics, with my pitches,” he said. ”I’m throwing offspeed for strikes Cheap Frank Ragnow Jersey , I’m throwing my curveball for strikes. It’s just all about comfort for me right now.”
Covey got a warm ovation from the crowd of 19,390 when he departed after the first two batters reached in the eighth. Edwin Encarnacion hit a one-out RBI single and Yonder Alonso doubled home another run before Jace Fry struck out Melky Cabrera and Jason Kipnis, preserving Chicago’s 3-2 lead.
Joakim Soria allowed two more hits in the ninth before finishing for his 10th save in 12 chances. Michael Brantley bounced into a game-ending double play with runners on first and second.
”We couldn’t string enough hits together,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
Cleveland wasted another impressive start for Bauer in its second straight loss after a stretch of five wins in six games. Brantley had three hits, but the AL Central leaders went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
Bauer (5-5) struck out 12 in 7 2/3 innings while becoming the third pitcher in franchise history to record at least 10 Ks in four consecutive starts, joining teammate Corey Kluber and Hall of Famer Bob Feller.
”Missing a lot of bats, limited contact, keeping the ball in the yard, not walking many people. It was a great outing,” Bauer said.
Bauer matched Covey zero for zero until the White Sox scratched across two in the fifth. Tim Anderson walked, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Roberto Perez before Charlie Tilson tripled into the corner in right . Tilson then scampered home on Trayce Thompson’s perfectly placed suicide squeeze.
Kevan Smith added an RBI single in the sixth as Chicago won for the third time in four games.
HELPING OUT
White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu helped Covey by turning a pair of slick double plays. He also doubled and scored on Smith’s single.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: LHP Andrew Miller (left knee inflammation) threw another bullpen session and could start facing hitters during Cleveland’s upcoming nine-game homestand. … Francona said the plan is to activate OF Brandon Guyer (strained neck) on Thursday. … C Roberto Perez returned to the lineup for the first time since he was hit by a pitch on the right wrist against Detroit on Sunday. … OF Bradley Zimmer Derwin James Youth Jersey , who was sent down to Triple-A Columbus on June 5, hurt his right shoulder in a drill Monday. He is expected to rest for five days.
White Sox: RHP Nate Jones was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a muscle strain in his forearm. The veteran reliever had an MRI, and Renteria said the injury is ”very mild.” RHP Juan Minaya was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take Jones’ place on the roster. … OF Avisail Garcia (strained right hamstring) went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in his second rehab game with Charlotte.
UP NEXT
Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger and White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon start the series finale Thursday afternoon. Clevinger (4-2, 3.31 ERA) pitched 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a 7-3 victory over Chicago on May 29. Rodon (0-1, 3.60 ERA) is making his second start after missing the beginning of the season while he worked his way back from shoulder surgery last September.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at .
