The Vegas Golden Knights (6-2-3) trailed early and were never able to catch up to the visiting Colorado Avalanche, who defeated Vegas 4-2 in the Nevada Day game Friday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.
For the ninth time in 11 games this season, the Golden Knights gave up the first goal. It took less than a minute for the road team to take a 1-0 lead, as Martin Necas scored just 41 seconds in. In his second career NHL start, Carl Lindbom had absolutely no chance on the one-timer off a brilliant cross-ice pass from Cale Makar.
The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead on a breakaway goal by Brock Nelson 4:32 into the middle frame. The goal came seconds after an unsuccessful power play for the Golden Knights, which was a theme of the game.
Vegas was better in the third period and finally converted on the power play (its sixth of the game). Tomas Hertl took the puck to the net and jammed it under Scott Wedgewood to pull Vegas within one just under three minutes into the final frame.
The Golden Knights initially had a glorious opportunity on an extended 5-on-3, but the two-man advantage was negated almost immediately when Pavel Dorofeyev was whistled for holding the stick. However, the Golden Knights were able to convert on the 4-on-3, as Hertl’s fifth of the season made it a one-goal game.
But Colorado restored its two-goal lead on Brent Burns’ first goal as a member of the Avalanche. Once again, the Avalanche benefited from a spectacular pass, as Necas did a spin-o-rama before finding Burns to make it 3-1 at 10:11.
The Golden Knights got a very fortunate bounce on a Mitch Marner centering feed, which deflected off Burns in front and found its way into the net to make it 3-2 less than two minutes later.
But the Golden Knights were unable to complete the comeback. They pulled Lindbom with less than two minutes left, but Makar scored from his own end to seal the 4-2 win for Colorado.
The Golden Knights did not play for 60 minutes, and it cost them against a formidable opponent. Falling behind early seemed to take Vegas out of its rhythm, and the Golden Knights never found their game.
Lindbom had another very strong outing and did everything in his power to give his team a chance to win; he finished the game with 22 saves on 25 shots for an .880 save percentage, but he made a number of key saves to keep this a close game.
The Golden Knights twice pulled within one but were unable to net the equalizer. But Vegas was in it until the end, and that was largely thanks to Lindbom.
The power play was the ultimate difference in the game, however, as Vegas went 1-for-6. Even beyond the unsuccessful attempts, the power play failed to generate momentum, which hurt the Golden Knights as they chased for almost the entire game.
The Golden Knights are now 2-for-19 on the power play without Mark Stone in the lineup. But regardless of how talented Stone is, there’s too much skill on this team to excuse a 10.5 percent conversion rate.
At 5-on-5, the Avalanche were considerably better than Vegas in the second period, outshooting the Golden Knights 8-3 and leading 13-4 in scoring chances and 5-0 in high-danger chances. On the whole, the Avalanche outplayed the Golden Knights for most of the afternoon, handing the Golden Knights just their second regulation loss of the season.
Bruce Cassidy tried to pull a lot of strings throughout the matinee to try to change things up. For example, he called timeout before the 5-on-3 and rearranged the power-play units, moving back to a five-forward unit and then putting Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb on the second power play. But Vegas didn’t respond, and the Avalanche made the necessary plays to hold on to the lead and win the game.
The Golden Knights will face Detroit on Tuesday as this six-game homestand continues.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.