LAS VEGAS — For Golden Knights fans, the wait continues.

Mitch Marner’s anxiously-awaited debut with Vegas remains on hold. He didn’t play in Sunday’s 3-0 loss at San Jose and he wasn’t dressed for Tuesday’s preseason home opener against the Los Angeles Kings. Neither, for that matter, were the Knights other off-season acquisitions — Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon — along with Jack Eichel.

Perhaps we’ll see them Thursday at T-Mobile Arena when the Knights host the Utah Mammoth. They will take the ice at some point.

As for those who did dress Tuesday, there were enough familiar faces to resemble an NHL roster though a number of Henderson Silver Knights took part against the Kings, who opted to leave Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala and Darcy Kuemper home in L.A. We’ll see those guys in Vegas come Oct. 8 when the Knights open the regular season against the Kings.

And while the Knights fell to 0-2 in the preseason after falling to the Kings 3-1, at least they scored. Defenseman Viliam Kmec, who spent most of last year playing junior hockey in the WHL with Prince George, scored from the slot with 11:22 remaining after Taylor Ward and Jeff Mallet had given the Kings a 2-0 lead.

Bruce Cassidy elected to play Mark Stone with William Karlsson and Reilly Smith while having Tomas Hertl center Brandon Saad and Pavel Dorofeyev. However, Dorofeyev was injured midway through the first period and did not return. Cassidy said that Dorofeyev’s lower body injury will be monitored going forward but he didn’t have much of an update.

Cassidy also gave Noah Hanifin and Zach Whitecloud thad some looks. heir first action of the preseason along with Ben Hutton. And while Shea Theodore is expected to pair with Hanifin when the games count, using Whitecloud as a defensive partner is not that big a burden for Hanifin.

“I thought that line moved well together,” Cassidy said of Karlsson, Smith and Stone. “They had some looks. They hit a couple of posts but I thought they did well for playing in a game for the first time in a while.”

And while Tuesday was good for the regulars to get some TOI, it was probably more important for the guys who are going to wind up in Henderson to show they are worthy of being ready to be called up in the event of an opening on the NHL roster. So for guys like Raphael Lavoie, Tanner Laczynski, Dylan Coghlan, Braeden Bowman and Jakub Demek, their minutes were more scrutinized. Silver Knights head coach Ryan Craig and GM Tim Speltz were in the press box watching, taking notes and looking to see if any of those players who participated Tuesday are worthy of consideration as a call-up once the season gets underway.

For Kmec, it was a chance to catch the attention of the decision-makers in the organization. He had 15:32 of ice time and took three shots, one of which found the back of the net.

“I felt pretty good from the start,” said the 6-foot-2, 21-year-old from Slovakia. “I thought it was a good pace. I was just trying to make smart plays with the puck, play my game and show myself in the best light.”

The Kings were doing the same things trying to evaluate who from Ontario might be worthy of moving up should a spot become available. Jim Hiller had Warren Foegele, Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore together with Liam Greentree, Alex Turcotte and Jeff Mallet on a second line while having vets Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci as his top D pair.
Anton Forsberg was in net and he was excellent. He stopped 32 of the 33 shots he faced, including 14 in the first period as L.A. improved to 2-0 in the preseason.

It was a busy sports night in Las Vegas. In addition to the Kings-Knights preseason tilt, the Las Vegas Aces were looking to even their WNBA semifinal playoff series with Indiana down the street at Michelob Ultra Arena. And in Summerlin at Las Vegas Ballpark which sits adjacent to the Knights practice facility, City National Arena, the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators were opening their Pacific Coast League playoff series against Tacoma.

The Knights were unable to complete the trifecta after the Aces and Aviators won. But for them, winning now isn’t crucial. Getting ready for Oct. 8 and trying to avoid injuries is the key.

“We’re still looking at a lot of guys,” Cassidy said. “Someone like Bowman, we’re trying to take a longer look at. And we’re trying to get the guys we know are going to be with us ready.”