* The biggest storyline for tonight's game was Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury facing the Penguins, the franchise he played with in the previous 14 years, for the first time. There were a lot of emotions on both ends of the ice - from Fleury and from his former teammates on the visiting bench.
The fans (both Penguins and Golden Knights) gave Fleury warm cheers. And though it was nice to get this game out of the way, both sides won't really be able to move on until Fleury's first visit to Pittsburgh in February.
* The biggest matchup in tonight's contest was the goaltending duel. It was the Penguins' former franchise goaltender (Fleury) vs. the current franchise goaltender (Matt Murray). Fleury was a mentor to Murray during the past two seasons, and the tandem led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. The torch was past this summer.
The two netminders met at center ice during warmups. The exchanged a hug and some kind words before stretching side-by-side. But once the puck dropped, it was game on.
Both men held their own between the pipes, but tonight the game belonged to the teacher and not the student.
* Although a lot of the buzz about the game surrounded Fleury, there are several former Penguins on the Knights roster, including James Neal, David Perron and Deryk Engelland. Neal opened the game's scoring with a tally 101 seconds after the opening puck drop.
* Fleury's best save of the game looked vaguely familiar. He moved from left to right and threw his upper torso to stop a Brian Dumoulin chance. It was reminiscent of his 2009 Stanley Cup Final Game 7 stop on Nicklas Lidstrom as time expired.
* If it weren't for the huge Golden Knights logo at center ice, one could have reasonably assumed tonight's game was in Pittsburgh. The black and (Pittsburgh) gold filled the seats and vocalized their allegiance. Several "Let's go Pens!" chants broke out during play, and the loudest reactions was on the Penguins' goals.
Pens fans travel well and support their club through everything. They showed the city of Las Vegas which team has the best fans in the league.
* Ian Cole picked up the lone Pittsburgh goal off of a nice feed from Carl Hagelin on a spin-o-rama feed from the sot. Cole made a nice finish from a tough angle.
