Golden Knights players were at Cosmopolitan when shooting occurred

Calvin Pickard was eating dinner on the Strip with teammates when Sunday’s mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival occurred.

But the backup goaltender could have been at the outdoor country music concert. He went to the show Friday night.

“It was a possibility, for sure, because our game (Sunday) was early (5 p.m. start) and there were concerts throughout later in the night,” Pickard said Tuesday, the Knights’ first day on the ice since 59 people were killed and more than 500 injured when a gunman opened fire on the concert crowd from his room at Mandalay Bay.

Rather than attending the final night of the three-day festival, Pickard joined nine teammates and three girlfriends at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas for dinner at Zuma following the Knights’ 5-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.

Knights forward Erik Haula also was at the Japanese restaurant and said he received a text from his realtor shortly after the shooting occurred to check on the group’s location.

Haula noticed the mood in the restaurant started to change as diners became aware of what was happening through social media. He said guests outside the restaurant began speed walking and running throughout The Cosmopolitan.

“It’s just kind of a swing of emotions, I guess,” Haula said. “You just try to avoid complete chaos, but you want to be aware. You just want to try and stay calm and you want to keep your eyes open because … the social media, it went from this to ‘Now, OK, someone’s walking in here and here and here, and there’s more than one. It’s real.”

The group remained safely in the restaurant until after 1 a.m., as the Strip properties were locked down.

Knights coach Gerard Gallant said he found out late Monday morning that all his players were fine.

“There’s a lot of things running through your mind when stuff like that happens,” Pickard said. “We just headed to Cosmo for a bite to eat after the game to get together off the ice, and we caught wind it was happening and we were kind of stuck there in the Cosmo without much info.

“So, it’s pretty nerve wracking. You don’t know what’s happening until afterward when it all comes to an end.”

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.