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LAS VEGAS — The day it was announced Las Vegas was getting an NHL team. The way that team became a symbol of a city that was in pain before the Golden Knights even played a game. The big trades that saw them get the stars who have built their win-at-all-costs mentality.

Moments such as these have defined the Vegas Golden Knights. And with Tuesday marking the sixth anniversary of their first game, those events were instrumental when they raised their first Stanley Cup banner before taking a 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena.

“It was cool seeing the banner go up,” Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill said. “I hadn’t seen a banner with that much detail before. It was pretty cool to see it go up but we know what we did last year, and we were ready to go tonight.”

Like so many Golden Knights games, the ceremony began with the team leaning into its medieval theme. The videoboard displayed pictures of the team winning the Stanley Cup that were made to look like something from an epic fantasy, complete with narration suitable for a Shakespearean play.

Then came Lee Orchard, who plays the role of the “Golden Knight,” skating onto the ice and donning his golden armor before placing his sword in a stone at center ice.

From there, the arena’s collective attention returned to the videoboard, where fans watched the history of the Golden Knights through video clips. It started with the board of governors meeting when it was announced Las Vegas would get a team, followed by clips of the expansion draft.

The video then went to the numerous memorials that were displayed around Las Vegas from the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting that occurred Oct. 1, 2017. The Golden Knights honored the victims and first responders before their first home game nine days later. Tuesday’s video featured excerpts from the emotional speech delivered that evening by former Golden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland, who said, “We’ll do anything we can to help you and our city heal.”

The video continued by showing the day the team named Mark Stone captain followed by players the Golden Knights either signed or acquired in a trade, including Jack Eichel. It showed a clip from coach Bruce Cassidy’s introductory news conference and a series of goals from last season.

While the video then started playing highlights from the Stanley Cup playoff run, on-ice crew members rolled out the banner box — a slot machine.

“I had a feeling the three Cups were coming,” Eichel said. “It’s Vegas so it’s to theme. I loved it. It was great.”

After the video ended, the team took the ice, with Stone being the last to join as he hoisted the Stanley Cup over his shoulders while skating around the rink. He then set the Cup on a table next to the slot machine and pulled the lever.

Three Stanley Cup icons were displayed on the three LCD screens, and the banner slowly came out of the box and was raised high enough for the crowd to see.

Once the Golden Knights took a team photo in front of the banner, it was raised to the rafters. The booming speakers of the public address system played “Shot at the Night” by famed Las Vegas natives The Killers as the banner made its way to the rafters.

Many of the Golden Knights looked longingly at the banner, and a few appeared to get emotional before the ceremony ended with a chant of “Go Knights Go” by the sellout crowd.

“We had our ring dinner a few nights ago and went to the Raiders last night,” Eichel said. “There’s a lot of things going on in your life and you’re trying to enjoy what we accomplished but prepare for a season, so, you try to balance both. It’s an amazing experience to watch a banner go up and you want to enjoy every moment. But in the back of your mind, you’re preparing for a game as well.”

How the Golden Knights would celebrate the most significant moment in their history had been surrounded by curiosity. The team’s entertainment staff instantly made T-Mobile Arena one of the most unique venues in the league by living up to the expectations that come with being in Las Vegas.

The Golden Knights have developed trademark touches such as Orchard skating around in golden armor, the Golden Belles showgirls team and the Knight Line — the team’s drum line — having one of its members rappel down from the rafters and onto the ice while still drumming.

Andrew Abrams, who is the Golden Knights’ vice president and executive producer for their entertainment team, said meeting those demands was “both hard and easy” when it came to what they would do for the banner-raising ceremony.

“We always try to sort of one-up ourselves, and the expectation is that it can’t be another hockey team doing another banner raising,” Abrams said. “But it was easy, because some of the elements that we chose, we actually had ideas for back in the playoffs before we could even talk about a banner ceremony.”

Tyler Ferraro, who is the Golden Knights’ senior manager of entertainment experience, said they wanted to make the ceremony about the team. Instead of solely tapping into those familiar trademarks, they wished to create what Ferraro described as a love letter from the team to the city.

It’s why they wanted to have items such as the slot machine banner box — something that was kept secret, with only a few select people in the organization knowing about it.

“We wanted to have a few things that when people looked at it, they said, ‘Yeah, that’s Vegas,'” Abrams said.

Reaching that conclusion also meant watching what other teams did in the NHL, along with other leagues, before confirming the direction the Golden Knights wanted to take.

Last year, the Colorado Avalanche had Blink-182 bassist and singer Mark Hoppus lead the crowd in singing “All the Small Things” — the 2000 hit song that eventually morphed into the team’s anthem, with fans continuing to sing well after the song stopped playing over the arena’s public address system.

Abrams said the Golden Knights’ entertainment team thought about different ideas such as possibly bringing in a musical act. But factors such as time restraints led to it keeping the focus on ceremony.

“Because we are such a young team, throughout the last six years, you can pinpoint specific points in our timeline of how this led to our championship,” Ferraro said. “Or how this trade fed into this thing that gave us the Stanley Cup.”

Another element the entertainment team worked with was when owner Bill Foley issued the famed “Cup in Six” edict in which he claimed the club would win a Stanley Cup in six seasons.

“It feels like a really beautiful endcap to our first Golden Knights saga,” Ferraro said. “We’re able to close a chapter on that, literally and figuratively, and we start focusing on the future, but that was a fun creative twist, as well.”

Even though the Golden Knights had months to work on creating what they deemed to be the perfect ceremony, they had a rather limited window to rehearse at T-Mobile Arena. The arena hosted Game 1 of the WNBA Finals between the New York Liberty and the defending champion Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. On Monday, the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers played a preseason game, which further heightened the need to make the most out of rehearsals.

Abrams said the first time they rehearsed the show was Oct. 4. The first rehearsal allowed them to see how the show looked in segments, but they didn’t have enough time to see how the whole ceremony would look start to finish.

Two days later, they were able to get back into T-Mobile because of an unforeseen opening in the schedule, which allowed them to rehearse four or five times.

“We walked out of there in a really good spot,” Abrams said. “A two-day rehearsal is not normal, but the important thing is we got as many reps as physically possible.”

Having a nostalgic ceremony also allowed a former Golden Knights player to look back, with Kraken forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare talking about his time with the team. Bellemare, who spoke after morning skate, was one of the original Golden Knights who helped them reach the Stanley Cup Final that they lost to the Washington Capitals.

“You’re kind of proud, first of all, to be able to have the honor to be part of [that first team in franchise history],” Bellemare said. “Second of all, for the people of Vegas, you’re happy for everyone who is able to celebrate that.”

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Mariners shut down Jays’ bats to steal Game 1

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Mariners shut down Jays' bats to steal Game 1

TORONTO — Bryce Miller overcame a shaky first inning and gave the tired Seattle Mariners the start they needed in the AL Championship Series opener.

Miller pitched six sharp innings, Jorge Polanco hit a go-ahead single in the sixth and the Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Sunday night as they returned to the ALCS for the first time in 24 years.

“The year, personally, didn’t go how I had planned and how I had hoped for but we’re in the ALCS and I got to go out there and set the tone,” Miller said. “I felt great.”

Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh added a tying solo home run, his second homer of the postseason after leading the major leagues with 60 in the regular season.

“That was a big lift,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Raleigh’s drive in a two-run sixth.

George Springer homered on the first pitch from Miller, who then escaped a two-on jam in a 27-pitch first inning.

Anthony Santander singled in the second for Toronto’s only other hit, and Seattle pitchers retired 23 of the Blue Jays’ final 24 batters. Miller, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andres Munoz combined to throw just 100 pitches less than 48 hours after the Mariners needed 209 pitches to outlast Detroit over 15 innings.

“The job Bryce Miller did tonight was phenomenal,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “After that first inning, he went into a different gear. You saw him getting ahead, using all his stuff.”

Miller, the winner, struck out three and walked three in six innings, throwing 76 pitches. The three relievers each had eight-pitch, 1-2-3 innings, with Muñoz getting the save.

Raleigh tied the score in the sixth with his ninth homer in 14 games at Rogers Centre. Kevin Gausman had held batters to 0 for 16 on splitters in the postseason before Raleigh’s homer.

“I was trying to get bat on ball, really just trying to put something in play,” Raleigh said, wearing a T-shirt with the words: “JOB’S NOT FINISHED.” “I didn’t want to punch out again.”

Polanco hit a go-ahead single later in the inning and added an RBI single in the eighth.

“He’s been huge from both sides of the plate,” Raleigh said .

AL West champion Seattle traveled to AL East winner Toronto on Saturday after a 3-2 home victory over the Tigers on Friday to win the Division Series, the longest winner-take-all game in Major League Baseball history.

Seattle, the only MLB team to never host a World Series game, held Toronto to two hits after the Blue Jays had 50 hits and 34 runs in their four-game Division Series against the New York Yankees.

“We’re a really good offense,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Today it just didn’t work out.”

Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 9 for 17 with three homers and nine RBIs against the Yankees but finished 0 for 4 Sunday with three groundouts.

“This is going to be a hard-fought series, man,” Schneider said. “These guys will be ready for it.”

Springer’s 21st postseason home run broke a tie with the Yankees’ Derek Jeter, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on the career list.

Raleigh’s homer was his fourth in 15 at-bats against Gausman, who took the loss.

“Up to that point, I’d been throwing the ball really well and had the game right there,” Gausman said. “This one’s on me.”

Gausman allowed two runs and three hits in 5⅔ innings.

“Great hitters capitalize on mistakes,” Schneider said. “That split from Kev just kind of leaked back over the middle a little bit.”

Raleigh hit a one-out single off Gausman in the first and advanced to third on Julio Rodríguez’s base hit but was thrown out at the plate by third baseman Addison Barger on Polanco’s grounder.

Polanco, who had the game-ending single Friday, singled against Brendon Little to drive in Rodríguez, who had chased Gausman with a two-out walk.

Polanco added another RBI single against Seranthony Dominguez.

Eugenio Suarez doubled off the top of the right-field wall against Louis Varland in the seventh. The 395-foot drive would have been a homer in 15 of 30 big league ballparks, including Seattle.

Toronto outfielder Nathan Lukes left in the fourth inning. Lukes bruised his right knee when he fouled a pitch off it in the first inning. Schneider said X-rays were negative and said Lukes might return Monday.

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Jays’ Springer leads off with 21st postseason HR

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Jays' Springer leads off with 21st postseason HR

TORONTO — The Blue JaysGeorge Springer homered on the first pitch from Seattle‘s Bryce Miller in the American League Championship Series opener Sunday, moving past the New York Yankees‘ Derek Jeter into sole possession of fifth place on the career list with his 21st postseason home run.

Springer’s 385-foot drive to right field on a fastball at the outside corner put Toronto ahead with the first postseason leadoff home run in Blue Jays history. Springer has 63 leadoff homers in the regular season, second to Rickey Henderson’s record 81.

Manny Ramirez hit a record 29 postseason homers and is trailed by Jose Altuve (27), Kyle Schwarber (23) and Bernie Williams (22).

However, also in the first inning, Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes fouled a ball off his right knee, falling in pain. He stayed in the game and drew a 12-pitch walk, then flied out leading off the third and was replaced by Myles Straw for the start of the fourth.

The team said he bruised his knee and was being further evaluated.

Lukes went 4-for-12 with five RBIs in Toronto’s division series win over the Yankees, including a key two-run single in the Game 4 clincher. He also made a diving catch in Toronto’s Game 1 win.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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L.A. to start Snell in Game 1, Ohtani later in NLCS

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L.A. to start Snell in Game 1, Ohtani later in NLCS

MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Dodgers will start lefty Blake Snell in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night while righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the ball in Game 2. It means Shohei Ohtani will get just one start in the series, during the middle leg back in Los Angeles.

“He’ll pitch at some point, but we just don’t know which day,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on Sunday.

Unlike in previous spots, the Dodgers are not concerned with pitching Ohtani before a day off, choosing to maximize rest for the other starters as the team embarks on its first best-of-seven series this postseason.

“Not as important,” Roberts said. “I think just appreciating having four starters in a potential seven-game series and who can pitch potentially twice, and that’s kind of the impetus, versus Shohei having that day off after a game.”

Ohtani is hitting just .148 this month with a 4.50 ERA over six postseason innings. Roberts was asked if the pitching plan for him was related to his slump at the plate.

“No, not at all,” Roberts answered. “I think it was just kind of Shohei’s going to pitch one game this series. So, it’s one game and then you have two other guys that potentially can pitch on regular rest.”

The Brewers are likely to counter with an opener in Game 1 before handing the ball to a starter for “bulk” innings.

“Game 1 looks, ‘OK, who on our team that can give us length,'” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “[Jose] Quintana, [Quinn] Priester, something like that — give us bulk.”

Murphy indicated righty Freddy Peralta would start Game 2 and then they’ll figure out Game 3 after that. He wasn’t sure yet if rookie Jacob Misiorowski would start a game or pitch multiple innings out of the bullpen.

“I don’t know,” Murphy stated. “I really don’t know. That hasn’t been concrete yet. There’s a possibility he’d start.”

Rosters don’t have to be turned in until Monday morning, but the Dodgers are considering carrying just two catchers as Will Smith‘s hand injury isn’t a big concern. He caught the entirety of Games 3 and 4 in the NLDS.

“I have a couple of conversations to have shortly,” Roberts said. “But yeah, that’s a good thought.”

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