5 Biggest Las Vegas Sports Stories: Sept 28 -Oct 4

1. Aces lose opening game to Seattle Storm

Three things seem to be certain in life. Death, taxes, and the Las Vegas Aces getting crushed in their opening game of a series. That s exactly what happened when the Aces took on the Seattle Storm in the WNBA finals. Unfortunately for the Aces, they ended up getting blown out 90-80 despite great performances by Angel McCoughtry and A ja Wilson.

The Aces even had a great supporting cast of players that game, including Kayla McBride, Danielle Robinson, and Jackie Young, who all put up 10 or more points. With that being said, however, they were simply outdone by the Storm, who was led by Breanna Stewart s 37 points, 2 assists, and 15 rebounds. Sue Bird also contributed 16 points of her own, which is a new WNBA record.

In the end, the Las Vegas Aces are set to take on the Storm again Sunday evening and will need to look for ways to neutralize Breanna Stewart s playmaking skills.

2. Las Vegas Raiders pay tribute to Route 91

The Las Vegas Raiders haven t been a part of the local community for very long but are already making an impact in their new home. In fact, team owner Mark Davis and team president Mark Badain were both present for a ceremony this week honoring the 60 victims of the Route 91 shooting. Each victim's name was displayed on the jumbotron one by one before a light was turned on for them.

What we wanted to do is honor the 60 victims of the 10-1 tragedy, Las Vegas darkest night, said Raiders owner Mark Davis, who was present, along with team president Marc Badain, for the approximately hourlong ceremony. We turned out all the lights of the stadium at 10:05 p.m. and displayed their name on the board and lit a light in their honor. In the morning at sunrise, we ll reverse the procedure and when all the lights are out we ll welcome a new, bright day in Las Vegas and continue to be Vegas Strong.

The Raiders organization also said that they would return to the stadium the next day to reverse the process as one final tribute to the victims. The original incident occurred in October of 2017 when a Jason Aldean concert was interrupted by a shooter.

Raiders star quarterback, Derek Carr, took to Twitter a day after the tribute to tweet, #vegasstrong, in support of the ceremony. The Las Vegas Raiders also paid tribute to the victims three years ago by wearing helmets emblazoned with "Vegas Strong" in a 2017 game and even listed the victims' names on their stadium screen at the time.

3. Robin Lehner signs five year extension with Las Vegas Golden Knights

Robin Lehner, who was acquired by trade from Chicago during the tail end up the 2020 regular season, has now signed a five-year extension with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The deal will result in a 5-million-dollar cap hit for the Knights, which is only further fueling rumors that Marc Andre Fleury s days with the organization are numbered.

Keeping Fleury in Vegas would result in a seven-million-dollar cap hit and hurt the team's chances at signing other key talent. Finally, the nail in the coffin of all this is that Lehner played 16 of the 20 games in the playoffs this year, showing how much the team has given up on Fleury.

Fleury has made it known that he wants to stay with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and he is a suitable backup for Lehner, but a seven-million-dollar cap hit for a backup goalie seems unjustifiable.

4. Marcus Mariota absent from practice again

Although Marcus Mariota was spotted at the Raiders' practice Wednesday and was subsequently taken off the injury reserve list, he was once again a no-show the very next day. The Heisman-winning quarterback followed that up by not being present at Friday s practice and is not listed on the active roster for Sunday s game against the Buffalo Bills.

Mariota was put on the injury reserve list back in week one due to a pec strain and doctors believed that the best treatment for the injury was time off the field. With that being said, however, it seems that the strategy is not working.

"Marcus Mariota has been dealing with pec strain, one that has severely limited him in practice. The hope is the time away helps," tweeted Ian Rapoport.

5. Damon Arnette placed on IR

Las Vegas Raiders rookie cornerback, Damon Arnette, has been placed on the injury reserve list this week after reaggravating a thumb injury during last Sunday s loss to the Patriots. Arnette was already playing with a cast throughout the first three weeks of the season and will now have to sit out a period of time due to recovery.

"It's tough any time you lose a starter," coach Jon Gruden said. "I mean, we've lost five receivers, two right tackles and a left guard and a middle linebacker. So any time you lose a starter, it's a gut punch. But you've got to take punches in this league if you're going to survive, if you're going to be a coach."

Now that Arnette is sidelined, Nevin Lawson will most likely start in his place with Trayvon Mullen, Isiah Johnson, Keisean Nixon all contributing in some capacity. Unfortunately for the Raiders, though, they have been plagued by subpar play on defense these last couple of weeks, and things will only worsen without this key player.

"So we've got a lot of young guys there that we're anxious to see and we're also confident in what they can do," Gruden said. "But they will be tested by this quarterback and the one next week. That's for sure."