Former national ice hockey coach Marco Sturm lost the start of the NHL season with the Los Angeles Kings. There was a 3:4 against the Vegas Golden Knights in an intense game.
Sturm is the Kings’ assistant coach for the fifth year and was initially able to celebrate Gabriel Vilardi’s lead in the first third of the home game, but then fell behind three more times. Mark Stone scored the winning goal for the guests from Nevada 24.9 seconds before the end of regulation time.
Earlier, the Tampa Bay Lightning unexpectedly lost 3-1 to the New York Rangers. The Florida side, two-time Stanley Cup winners in the past three years and finalists last season, never recovered after Mika Zibanejad’s second goal and conceded a third through Barclay Goodrow. Steven Stamkos scored the only goal for the Lightning.
The NHL season started last week with the San Jose Sharks playing two games against the Nashville Predators in Prague. Tuesday night’s two games were the first games of the season in North America.