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Highlights:
- Colorado Avalanche jump out to 2-0 lead on way to 4-2 win
- Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy says his team “not ready to play” and it has “to start on time”
- Cassidy says power play, a strong point last season, lacks execution
Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — You can make the case that Halloween is many days on the Strip here in Sin City, but on the actual holiday Friday it was interesting to see as many adults wearing costumes as kids at Friday’s Vegas Golden Knights vs Colorado Avalanche game.
It’s also Nevada Day, a holiday to mark the state’s admission into the United States on Oct. 31, 1864 — a move designed to help Abraham Lincoln get re-elected to get the 13th Amendment approved to end slavery.
Whether Russian-born Pavel Dorofeyev or Sweden’s finest, William Karlsson, are up on Nevada history is probably questionable. But then again, they and their VGK mates had to focus on a 1 PM matinee matchup with a rival western team that is a mirror image of the Knights.
The Colorado club won the Stanley Club in 2022, just a year before the Vegas team won its NHL title. Both teams have superstar centers — the Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon and VGK’s Jack Eichel — while both teams have matching scorers, Dorofeyev with his nine goals and Martin Necas, MacKinnon’s linemate.
And it was Necas who opened today’s scoring with his eighth goal of the young season. Then in period two, Avs second line center Brock Nelson scored right after the VGK squandered a power play chance by slipping the puck though the five hole for a Colorado 2-0 lead.
VGK goalie Carl Lindbom, who played well in Tampa for the Knights to squeeze out a point against the Lightning on Vegas’ recent Florida/North Carolina road trip, looked like he has potential to be a contributor. He plays with poise and moves well around the goal and crease.
Vegas’ newest prized addition, Mitch Marner, along with Eichel and Dorofeyev have piled up points, but the Knights are not drawing secondary goal scoring from the likes of linemates Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar. Both Howden and Kolesar had nice goal-scoring contributions last season, but Howden has one goal this season, while Kolesar has yet to light the red lamp.
VGK finally scored in the third period on a 4 on 3 power play thanks to a goal by Tomas Hertl. The Knights were down, 2-1, with lots of time left in the third period.
But the Avs responded with 129-year-old Brent Burns — OK, he’s really 40 — scored his first goal for Colorado and his 262nd of his career in his 1,509th game.
Burns also taketh from the Aves when a Marner pass toward the Colorado crease deflected off Burns’ stock past Avs netminder Scott Wedgewood and the VGK trailing, 3-2 with about seven minutes to go.
After VGK coach Bruce Cassidy pulled Lindbom with less than two minutes left in the final period, Colorado defenseman Cale Makar flung the puck down the ice to seal the Avs 4-2 win. Colorado is now 7-1-4 for 18 points, while Vegas dropped its second regulation loss and fell to 6-2-3 to remain at 15 points.
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