Games at T-Mobile Arena remind Pierre-à‰douard Bellemare of a special place.
"This is the closest thing I've found to a European way of seeing sports," Bellemare observed. "You have two groups of fans: Jets fans, Pittsburgh fans, they call their teams, and then the Vegas fans answer either by booing or yelling even harder."
The French native was 29 when he made his NHL debut in 2014. Before then, his entire career had been spent in Sweden and France.
"That's the thing maybe I miss the most from Europe," said Bellemare. "You're going to have an entire corner with your people and songs and stuff. You have songs battling, even in the middle of the hockey action. It's unbelievable."
Such passionate supporter groups, always seated together on the road, are a fixture in European sports. It's not just Europe either. When you buy a ticket for a professional baseball game in Japan, you're asked if you want to sit with the home or visiting crowd.
"Every rink, you know where the visiting team's fans are going to be," remembered Bellemare. "The entire [home] rink could be quiet, but you'd just hear a group of 100 people by themselves, yelling."
So Bellemare doesn't mind that Golden Knights games might be half-full with visiting fans, because everybody is equally raucous.
"It creates a healthy battle [in the stands]. At the end of the day for us, it makes it even more exciting."
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Bellemare, along with the rest of the Golden Knights, realize Las Vegas is a hockey market like no other. The city is full of transplants with life-long allegiances to other teams. It's also an unparalleled tourist attraction for visiting fans. And the native hockey market is still new to the game.
So Bellemare embraces the opportunity to win over visitors and galvanize the locals.
On the pro-Pittsburgh crowd last Thursday:
It felt like it. When they jumped on the ice in the warm-ups and you hear half of the rink yelling...and when we come in, it's kind of quiet. It felt like it. But it's fun.
For Bellemare, the Detroit and Chicago games were the most "road-like." But Winnipeg's visit was also unforgettable:
[Jets fans] came with such a power. In the beginning of the game, you usually hear, "Go Knights go!"
We're like, oh, the crowd is crazy. And then you realize they're actually yelling, "Go Jets go!"
On winning the crowd over in these kinds of games:
We scored the first goal and you actually see some Pittsburgh fans clapping. At the end of the game, we thank the crowd, and everybody is clapping. Even if they're a Pittsburgh fan and they lost the game. But still, they're enjoying the show.
Kind of makes sense for Vegas. People come here because they want to see an exciting show.
On the constant, raucous interaction between Golden Knights fans and visiting fans:
There's no dull moment.
On the many hockey transplants living in Las Vegas:
82 games. 80 games a year, they're going to be die-hard Knights fans. The 2 times we meet their home team, they might have the Pittsburgh jersey on. As long as the rink is full. For us, it doesn't change anything.
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As for Golden Knights practice today, Gerard Gallant expects no line-up changes tomorrow against Florida.
Luca Sbisa is still day to day, while William Carrier, still wearing a red no-contact jersey, won't be back immediately.
Of course, a lot will be made of Gallant's first game against the Panthers after an unceremonious firing last season; I'll have more on that tomorrow afternoon, as I interviewed multiple Panthers about Gallant.
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Evgenii Dadonov
HockeyBuzz: For the Russian player trying to make it in North America, what's the biggest challenge?
Evgenii Dadonov: If you're coming young here, it's probably easier to get into the culture here and learn the language. It's hard when you come without the language. That's the most important thing, you have to learn English first when you come here.
HB: Since we're in Las Vegas, I have to ask you, what was your opinion of the Vadim Shipachyov saga?
ED: I wasn't here. I don't know what happened there. I have nothing to say about it.
HB: After he re-joined the KHL, Shipachyov said that the Russian player should think 10 times before coming to the NHL. What do you think about that statement?
ED: Everybody's different, you know. Some guys have a goal to come here and they're coming no matter what. And some guys, they're happy to stay overseas in Russia.
HB: Sergei Plotnikov said recently that North American players are raised to grin it and bear it when things aren't going well. He said that Russians generally aren't like that. So in this way, it's harder for Russian players when they come here and things don't go their way. What do you think about that?
ED: Like I told you, everybody is different. Probably the age [when coming over] makes a big difference too. I can't tell for everybody, I can only tell for me.
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