LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It is a special week as the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate the personal milestones for two players.
On Monday, the team celebrated Alex Pietrangelo playing in his 1,000th career regular-season National Hockey League game. Tonight, they are celebrating Alec Martinez who is suiting up for his 800th career regular-season NHL game and it's also Ben Hutton's 500th game.
Martinez said there are differences between his first game and going into game 800.
"A lot more gray hairs. A lot more bumps and bruises," he said smiling. "I've had a couple of bad run-ins with hockey skates and sharp blades. That happens over the course of a career and makes what Alex did a little bit more special. It's tough to get up to that. Sometimes, a few lucky bounces or unlucky bounces, unlucky hockey skates can be the difference. It's also a testament to taking care of your body."
One of those run-ins with a hockey skate came in Nov. 2021. During a game against the Minnesota Wild, he was hit in the face by Brandon Duhaime's skate blade. It sliced his face open and cause teeth to fall out, which then-head coach Pete DeBoer called "an ugly, ugly cut."
The injury required over 50 stitches and he was out of the lineup for over four months while he recovered. A scar on the left side of his face below his eye is a reminder of the gruesome injury.
"Without getting into it too much, I was just hoping to live a normal life. At one point, in the darkest days of that particular injury, when we were trying to figure out what was going on, it got to the point where I was like I don't really care about hockey. It's more about life," Martinez said. "I have a little bit more of an appreciation [for milestones]. I think I said that when I came back from it. It means a little bit more. When you face adversity like that, if you're able to overcome that and accomplish something, accomplish one of your biggest goals, you appreciate it more."
Martinez added that he loves competing and the guys he plays with, which is why despite the injuries and the grind, he returns to the game night after night.
"I was very fortunate to learn from a lot of really good pros, learn what to do on and off the ice, from select groups of people. They know who they are. Without them, I wouldn't be sitting here," Martinez said. "Hands down, [I love] the locker room, coming in to the rink day in and day out with these guys. It's the relationships you develop along the way, the guys you compete with. It's the big thing that keeps you going. I care much more about the team's success and winning Stanley Cups than the amount of games I've played."
Martinez is also a source of inspiration to his teammates, who see his passion and are motivated to keep going.
"[Winning] is addicting. You talk to guys who have won multiple cups. You look at what Alec Martinez has been through," Stone said in September. "He probably could have hung up his skates but he has won before and understands how great it is to win and keeps coming back for that reason. We need everyone to have that same feeling. We can definitely learn from a guy like him who went through hell to prolong his career to have the opportunity to win again."
The puck drops tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. You can watch the game on Vegas 34 and our coverage starts at 7 p.m.
FAST FACTS
- For VGK, Jack Eichel, Logan Thompson, Pavel Dorofeyev, Shea Theodore, and William Carrier are still on the injured reserve list.
- For Carolina, Antti Raanta and Frederik Andersen are on the injured reserve list.
- VGK's Chandler Stephenson is one point away from 250 career points.
- VGK's Jonathan Marchessault is nine points away from 400 points as a Golden Knight.
- VGK's Ivan Barbashev is three points away from 50 points as a Golden Knight.
- The Vegas Golden Knights are two wins away from 300 total wins in franchise history.
