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Two years ago, the Golden Knights ran the Colorado Avalanche out of the building on Nevada Day with a seven-goal shutout. It was almost the opposite on Friday.
The Golden Knights struggled from the outset and the Avalanche took advantage, taking down Vegas 6-1 at T-Mobile Arena.
The first-period score didn't reflect the way Colorado manhandled the Golden Knights. Colorado scored on its first shift of the game, a goal from original Golden Knight Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, but Marc-Andre Fleury stood tall enough to keep it from getting out of hand.
William Karlsson evened the game with 90 seconds left in the period, but Nazem Kadri gave the lead back to Colorado 43 seconds after that to send the game to the second period with the Avalanche up 2-1.
The second period is where Colorado ran away. First it was Cale Maker cashing in on a rebound shortly after a Vegas power play, then Kadri scoring his second of the game on a Colorado's turn with the extra man to make it 4-1.
It was the fourth goal that chased Fleury from the game, the first time he was pulled since opening night last season. Garret Sparks made his team debut in relief after coming over in an offseason trade with Toronto. He made 13 saves and allowed two goals.
The Avalanche added their fifth goal on an odd-man rush with 4:10 left in the period. Calvert scored with Bellemare helping out. Their sixth came short-handed from behind the Vegas net by Calvert in the third period.
Shots on goal favored the Avalanche 41-25, a season-high in shots allowed. It was the second-lowest shots sent at the opposing net.
Game goes from bad to worse for Golden Knights in second
The first period was rough for the Golden Knights, and the second was worse. Vegas gave up three goals and made a goalie switch, finishing the frame down 5-1 to the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.
In theory, you want a power play, even if it doesn't result in a goal, to provide some positive momentum. What happened in the second period was the opposite of that. The Avalanche killed off Vegas' power play with ease, then they went down and scored.
It was rookie defenseman Cale Maker who finished the goal, but the play setting it up was just as impressive. J.T. Compher danced around the Vegas defense and put one on net, allowing Maker to jump in and put back the rebound to make it 3-1.
Then, Colorado did on its power play what the Golden Knights hoped to do on theirs. Cody Eakin lost his stick, and against Nathan MacKinnon, that's a problem. MacKinnon danced around a helpless Eakin to feed Nazem Kadri, who blasted home his second of the game to make it 4-1.
And that was in for Marc-Andre Fleury. The Golden Knights waited until the next TV timeout but when they returned to the ice, their goalie did not, as Garret Sparks made his team debut in his place. Fleury was only pulled from one game all of last season, and it came on opening night.
The Avalanche added one more before the period ended, when Matt Calvert finished a 2-on-1 with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare with 4:10 to go.
Slow start puts Golden Knights in first-period hole
It was a brutal start for the Golden Knights, but it could certainly be a lot worse. They fell into an early hole, but strong goaltending kept them close enough as they headed to the first intermission with a 2-1 deficit against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.
It took only 28 seconds for an old friend to reintroduce himself to the Golden Knights. The Avalanche sent the line centered by former Golden Knight Pierre-Edouard Bellemare out to start the game and he scored on the first shift. Bellemare intercepted a defensive-zone pass from Mark Stone and elevated it over Marc-Andre Fleury to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Knights couldn't have started the game much worse. They did not record their first shot attempt until the 6:01 mark and first shot didn't make it to the net until 8:04. Midway through the first, Vegas trailed in shot attempts 9-1.
And once again, Fleury kept the Golden Knights in the game. He added a few more highlight-reel saves to his ever-growing ledger, and prevented Colorado from expanding on its lead.
And as they seem to have been all year, that was enough for Vegas to pounce. Cody Glass entered the zone, Reilly Smith passed to William Karlsson and Karlsson netted his first goal that was an empty-netter of the season to even it up at 18:30.
The good feelings didn't last long. As Karlsson's goal was being announced to the crowd, Nazem Kadri ripped a shot through a screen to beat Fleury and put the Avalanche back on top.
Colorado led in shots on goal for the period 15-6.
Golden Knights look to take down streaking Avalanche
The Golden Knights have had trouble beating good teams.
They have seven wins against six teams that are a combined 24-31-5 (two wins against the Sharks). Only the Penguins have more wins than losses, and you can add the Flames to the list of winning teams, depending on how you categorize a .500 team (6-5-1 record).
That's not the Golden Knights' fault — you can only play the teams on your schedule after all — but this afternoon's Nevada Day game poses a new challenge for them. They welcome in the Colorado Avalanche, whose 7-1-1 record has propelled them to the top of the NHL through three weeks. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.
"They're a fast team, and they have probably one of the best players in the league," Vegas defenseman Nick Holden said. "We have to do a good job keeping the puck out of his hands but also playing our style of game where they don't get the puck as much."
He's referring to Nathan MacKinnon, who shares the team lead in goals (5) and points (12) so far. The good news for Vegas is who he shares those leads with, winger Mikko Rantanen, who will miss today's game and quite a few more after being labeled week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
That hurts the Avalanche but doesn't make them an easy out.
"They got some real good talent, and they got a lot of depth on their team," coach Gerard Gallant said.
The Golden Knights are starting a four-game homestand after finishing a three-game road trip in which they won twice but did not score a 5-on-5 goal. The power play is working well, and the possession numbers still favor the Golden Knights, so the odds of it being a blip on the radar are higher than it being a season-long issue.
A season-long issue so far has been the number of shots Vegas has surrendered. At 33.6, it's the seventh-worst in the league, and though it showed signs of improving, it still needed Marc-Andre Fleury to play two terrific games in grab four points on the road.
The Avalanche are the eighth-worst team so far at firing shots on net (29.8 per game) and they are due some regression thanks to negative possession numbers (47.6% Corsi) and a sky-high PDO (league-high 1.058).
Maybe today is the day in the game Colorado comes down to earth and the Golden Knights pick up a big win against a top team. Vegas catches a break missing Rantanen, but MacKinnon still has the ability to turn a game on its head on his own.
TV: AT&T Sports Net (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)
Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM
Betting line: Golden Knights minus-165, Avalanche plus-140; over/under: 6.5 (EVEN, mius-120)
Golden Knights (7-4-0, 14 points) (3-2-0 home), second place, Pacific Division
Coach: Gerard Gallant (third season)
Points leader: Mark Stone (14)
Goals leaders: Reilly Smith (7)
Assists leaders: William Karlsson, Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone (8)
Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.04 GAA, 9.37 save percentage)
Avalanche (7-1-1, 15 points) (3-1-1 road), first place, Central Division
Coach: Jared Bednar (fourth season)
Points leaders: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen (12)
Goals leaders: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen (5)
Assists leaders: Cale Makar (8)
Expected goalie: Philipp Grubauer (2.82 GAA, .915 save percentage)
Golden Knights expected lineup
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty—Paul Stastny—Mark Stone
Brandon Pirri—Cody Eakin—Cody Glass
William Carrier—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Brayden McNabb—Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill—Nick Holden
Jake Bischoff—Deryk Engelland,
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury, Garret Sparks
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