Golden Knights crush Canucks in Vegas' 1st-ever preseason game
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Tyler Wong scored three times and added an assist in the Vegas Golden Knights' first preseason game to help the NHL's newest franchise rout the Vancouver Canucks 9-4 on Sunday.
Tomas Hyka scored twice, Tomas Nosek had a goal and two assists, and Nick Suzuki added a goal and an assist. Paul Thompson and Alex Tuch also scored, Brad Hunt chipped in with three assists, and Cody Glass - the sixth overall pick this year - had two of his own.
The Golden Knights dressed a roster of mostly prospects and fringe NHLers, leaving behind the likes of forwards James Neal, Jonathan Marchessault, David Perron, Cody Eakin, Reilly Smith and William Karlsson, defencemen Brayden McNabb, Deryk Engelland and Luca Sbisa, as well as goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Brock Boeser scored twice and had an assist for Vancouver. Philip Holm and Jordan Subban also scored.
Almost all of the Canucks' veterans were on a charter plane on their way to China for two preseason games against the Los Angeles Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. Trent Cull, the head coach of the Canucks' AHL affiliate in Utica, New York, was behind the bench for Vancouver, with Travis Green and his assistants with the veteran group on their way to China.
In the spirit of Vegas' debut, the Canucks had an Elvis Presley impersonator singing classics like ''Viva Las Vegas'' and ''Burning Love'' during some TV timeouts at Rogers Arena for some added Sin City flair.
Wearing their road white uniforms with grey, gold and red trim, along with black pants and white and gold gloves, the Golden Knights survived a 5-on-3 power play for 1:44 early in the first period before Wong opened the scoring with the first exhibition goal in club history.
The winger collected a chipped feed from Glass on a power play, cut down the right and beat goalie Richard Bachman with a short-side backhander at 4:58.
The Golden Knights will play three more times on the road before their first preseason home game Sept. 26 against Los Angeles.