The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The team played its home games at the Forum in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, for 32 years, until it moved to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles at the start of the 1999–2000 season.
An exhibition game is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or the team's rankings is either zero or otherwise greatly reduced. Exhibition games often serve as 'warm up matches', particularly in many team sports where these games help coaches and managers select and condition players, before the competitive matches of a league season or tournament. If the players usually play in different teams in other leagues, exhibition games offer an opportunity for the players to learn to work with each other. The games can be held between separate teams or between parts of the same team.
The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and subsequent concerts by Luther Vandross, Anita Mui and Janet Jackson.
Anže Kopitar is a Slovenian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). The 11th overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Kopitar became the first Slovene to play in the NHL upon making his debut in 2006. Kopitar has spent his entire NHL career with the Kings, has led the team in scoring in all but two seasons and is fourth in franchise history in points, goals, and assists, scoring his 1,000th career point in 2021. Following the 2015–16 season, he was named the Kings' captain. Noted for both his offensive and defensive play, Kopitar was awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL in 2016, as well as the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for gentlemanly play the same year. He won the Selke Trophy a second time in 2018 and the Lady Byng Trophy in 2023.
Rivalries in the National Hockey League have occurred between many teams and cities. Rivalries have arisen among NHL teams for many different reasons, the primary ones including geographic proximity, familiarity with opponents, on-ice incidents, and cultural, linguistic, or national pride.
The Las Vegas metropolitan area is home to many sports, most of which take place in the unincorporated communities around Las Vegas rather than in the city itself. Currently, the Las Vegas Valley has three major league professional teams: the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL), which began play in 2017 as the region's first major pro team, the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) which began play in 2020 after relocating from Oakland, California, and the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) plan to move to Las Vegas to play at a new ballpark which is estimated to be complete by 2028. When this relocation happens, Las Vegas will have progressed from being the largest market in the U.S. with no teams in the men's major professional leagues to being one of the smallest markets with at least three such teams within less than a decade. In addition, the National Basketball Association has publicly confirmed Las Vegas is being considered for an expansion franchise, which would potentially make Las Vegas by far the fastest market to progress from no teams in the Big Four leagues to having teams in all four leagues.
The Delta Center is an indoor venue in Salt Lake City, Utah. Opened in 1991, the arena is the home of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Over the years, it has also hosted other professional sports teams including the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League and the Utah Starzz of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). With a seating capacity of 18,306 for basketball, 14,000 for ice hockey and indoor football, and 20,000 for concerts, the arena offers space for many kinds of events. It has 56 luxury suites and 668 club seats. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the arena hosted figure skating and short-track speed skating competitions under the name "Salt Lake Ice Center".
The National Hockey League (NHL) has undergone several rounds of expansion and other organizational changes during its history to reach its current thirty-two teams: twenty-five in the United States, and seven in Canada. The newest additions to the league are the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021. The league has also relocated several franchises, most recently in 2011 when the former Atlanta Thrashers became the second and current incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Freeway Face-Off is an ice hockey rivalry between the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. The series takes its name from the massive freeway system in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, the home of both teams; one could travel from one team's arena to the other simply by traveling along Interstate 5. The term is akin to the Freeway Series, which refers to meetings between the Los Angeles metropolitan area's Major League Baseball teams, the Dodgers and the Angels.
The 1991 outdoor National Hockey League (NHL) game in Las Vegas was an exhibition pre-season game between the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings that took place on September 27, 1991, on an outside rink built over the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel and casino. This was the first official outdoor NHL game, and was part of the pre-season schedule for the 1991–92 NHL season for both teams.
The 2016–17 NHL season was the 100th season of operation of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams were competing in an 82-game regular season from October 12, 2016, to April 9, 2017. The 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs began on April 12 and concluded on June 11, with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup over the Nashville Predators in six games. On June 11, the Pittsburgh Penguins became the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997–98, winning the franchise's fifth Stanley Cup and their third in nine seasons.
The 2017–18 NHL season was the 101st season of operation of the National Hockey League. With the addition of a new expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights, 31 teams competed in an 82-game regular season. The regular season began on October 4, 2017, and ended on April 8, 2018. The 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs began on April 11, 2018, and concluded on June 7, with the Washington Capitals winning their first Stanley Cup in the Finals over the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
The National Hockey League (NHL) first held a regular season outdoor ice hockey game in 2003, and since 2008 the league has scheduled at least one per year.
The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Golden Knights compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expansion team, the team is the first major sports franchise to represent Las Vegas. The franchise is owned by Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, a consortium led by Bill Foley and the Maloof family. Their home games are played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.
The 2019–20 Vegas Golden Knights season was the third season for the National Hockey League franchise that started playing in the 2017–18 season. They played their home games at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. They made the playoffs for the third straight season after losing in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs to the San Jose Sharks the year prior. On October 17, 2019, the NHL suspended Valentin Zykov for 20 regular season games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
The 2019–20 Los Angeles Kings season was the 53rd season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 5, 1967.
The 2020–21 Vegas Golden Knights season was the fourth season for the National Hockey League franchise that started playing in the 2017–18 season. They played their home games at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. They made the playoffs for the fourth straight season after losing in the Conference Final to the Dallas Stars in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Golden Knights played this season in the West Division and only played games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season, and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The 2020–21 Los Angeles Kings season was the 54th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 5, 1967. On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Kings played this season in the West Division and only played games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season.
