'GREAT BUILDING TO PLAY IN'

LAS VEGAS - They call this place 'The Fortress.'
And for good reason.
It's widely known as one of the loudest barns on the circuit, with the quintessential - if not over-the-top - flair that makes the nightlife here on The Strip, 'pop.'
"We're all excited to be back here playing again," said Mikael Backlund. "In the past, we haven't been as good as we could be. We've taken too many penalties and haven't handled the momentum well enough. We haven't had great starts, either.
"Those are three big keys for us tonight, beginning with a good start.
"We need to stay out of the box and really be prepared for some big momentum swings, how loud this building gets, and how (the Golden Knights) feed off it."

The beautiful thing is, the Flames can, too.
A game at T-Mobile Arena is an experience like no other in this league. Certainly, the homeside gets a little boost from the pulsing, cranked-to-11-style volume. The visitors?
They love it, even more.
The Flames will be looking to use it tonight as they seek out a fourth straight road win, and first-ever in Vegas.
"I think if you're well prepared, they're always tough buildings to play in," said Head Coach Darryl Sutter, who will coach his first game in this rink tonight. "This building has created an identity for itself. It's like when we talked about restoring that the Saddledome - it's part of it.
"They've done it by being a new team and having a lot of activity and fan noise, so you have to be ready for that - because if you're not well-prepared for the adversity during a game, you have trouble.
"There's always adversity during a game, but this team can do it in a physical way, an aggressive way. So, if you're not ready for that type of a game or you're not comfortable in that type of game, then you're in trouble."

The Flames have all sorts of motivation to be at their best tonight. Yes, they're coming off back-to-back wins over the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks, but they weren't overly thrilled with how those games played out.
They know they can be better, and it's vital that they are. The Golden Knights arrive on the heels of a 7-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes, and are slowly getting themselves off the mat after a tough start to the season.

"For sure, Darryl demands a lot," Backlund said of the 'higher standard' in the Flames locker-room this year. "He's a demanding coach in a good way, so he's never satisfied.
"Coming in last year, he spread that through the team and through the group. The guys we brought in this year have all won before, too, and they know you can never be satisfied as well. I think it's a combination, a little bit of everything."
Managing adversity is a big part of that message. The Flames haven't faced a ton of it, in-game, this year, but that's the result of scoring the tilt's first goal in 18 of 25 tries.
However, in each of the past two, they've been on the receiving end of the opening strike - and on Friday in the OC, Anaheim rallied from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime and snatch a point.
It could have been easy for the Flames to fall victim in that scenario. But they stuck with it and worked themselves back into the game, before finishing it off in the shootout.
Since his arrival in March of last year, Sutter has emphasized the importance of these moments.
Winning teams don't get nervous or intimidated by the moment.
They battle through and double down on the foundation that's made them successful.
"It's not always the first goal - it might be a bad call, a bad break, but you have to be able to deal with it," Sutter said. "The next shift has to be able to deal with it.
"If you look at the other night, there was no score after the first, but they scored in the first minute and the last minute (of the second), even though we scored three in the period.
"Those are big swings when you score like that.
"But we handled it well."
Tonight, the 'adversity' starts well before puck drop.
With the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders hosting more 65,000 earlier this afternoon, the National Finals Rodeo in full swing and greasing the wheels in bars around town, and the usual, Sin City fare tickling the senses, the already deafening T-Mobile crowd could set some records in this one.
"It's been, what, two years since we were here?" asked Rasmus Andersson.
"It's a great building to play in.
"It really is."