Ryan Carpenter didn’t make the connection at first.
The Golden Knights forward grew up in a nontraditional hockey market, a product of the NHL’s expansion into the Sun Belt.
And now Carpenter has the opportunity to influence a budding generation of fans with the league’s newest team.
That’s when it clicked.
“Yeah, it’s cool, whenever you can grow the game in other places, and you see Auston Matthews from Arizona probably with the Coyotes being there,” Carpenter said Friday at City National Arena. “Hopefully more and more kids come from the nontraditional markets.”
Carpenter, 26, has revitalized the Knights’ fourth line with his play over the past two weeks.