The Vegas Golden Knights (17-8-11) were unable to hold off the high-flying Colorado Avalanche (28-2-7) in a 6-5 shootout loss Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas led 2-0, 4-2 and 5-4 but failed to hold on to those leads against the best team in the NHL in the first game following the Christmas break.
The Golden Knights’ stick work was stellar throughout the contest, and depth scoring came through in a big way in arguably the most exciting game of the year in front of the Vegas faithful. It wasn’t enough in the end, however, as a dominant third period by the Avalanche forced overtime, and Colorado eventually finished the comeback with a 2-1 win in the shootout.
It was a solid opening frame for the Golden Knights. Though Colorado led 23-12 in shot attempts, the margin in actual shots was only 8-7, and the Golden Knights were able to contain the explosive Avalanche offense.
The Golden Knights didn’t have a ton of promising scoring chances, but they capitalized on their best of the frame when Alexander Holtz lit the lamp for the first time this season. Holtz scored on a backdoor tap-in off a point shot by Noah Hanifin 2:43 into the contest to give the home team a 1-0 lead.
Holtz continued to stand out in the period and was noticeable on the second power-play unit, though Vegas was unable to convert.
The Avalanche finished the period with a 65.99 percent expected a goal share, per Natural Stat Trick, but Vegas blocked eight shots and did an excellent job keeping the opponent to the perimeter to take the 1-0 lead into intermission.
The Golden Knights wasted little time at the start of the second period, as Ivan Barbashev scored on a give-and-go with Mitch Marner on a 2-on-1 just 34 seconds into the frame. It was Barbashev’s 12th tally of the year, and Marner hit the 30-assist mark on the play to extend Vegas’ lead.
However, the Avalanche broke through at 5:19 when Samuel Girard’s attempted centering feed hit Jeremy Lauzon in front and floated over Carter Hart’s shoulder.
Braeden Bowman had two glorious chances on the doorstep but was robbed twice by goaltender Scott Wedgewood. Those saves would prove to be significant, as the Avalanche reset the score less than two minutes later on Martin Necas’ 17th of the year. It was another fortuitous bounce, as Necas’ shot hit Kaedan Korczak on its way into the net.
But the Golden Knights bounced right back and turned a strong shift into Ben Hutton’s fifth goal of the season, which ties his career high for goals in a single campaign. Hutton’s one-timer, which changed direction on its way past Wedgewood, came off a feed from Holtz, who put together one of his strongest games as a Golden Knight.
On the next shift, Brett Howden made it a two-goal game once more on a great play in transition, with Howden winning a race and chipping the puck over Wedgewood at 12:05. Reilly Smith, who hit the crossbar a few minutes earlier, set up the play for Howden’s seventh of the year.
Vegas’ two goals were scored just 29 seconds apart.
It was quite a response by the Golden Knights, who didn’t shy away despite the poor puck luck. Instead, Vegas reclaimed the lead just over a minute after Necas’ equalizer and restored the two-goal lead less than a minute after that.
Hart made a few key saves late in the period to hold off Colorado and maintain the lead through 40 minutes. After trailing 12-2 in scoring chances in the first period, the Golden Knights matched Colorado’s 13 in the middle frame while leading 8-3 in high-danger chances.
But the Avalanche came alive in the third, and they didn’t pull any punches.
Colorado led 38-14 in shot attempts, 16-6 in shots and 17-7 in scoring chances while outscoring the Golden Knights 3-1 to force overtime.
Less than four minutes into the final frame, the Avalanche cut the lead to one with another goal in transition, as Necas tallied his second of the night off a feed from the ever-dangerous Nathan MacKinnon.
MacKinnon tied the game at 8:21 when he cleaned up the loose change after a point shot by Sam Malinski got through Hart. It was the second time the Avalanche erased a two-goal lead.
Bowman hit the post on a Vegas power play but was denied once again. Though the power play wasn’t overly effective, it at least gave the Golden Knights a breather in the midst of Colorado’s surge.
Despite the tilted ice, Vegas went on to score the go-ahead goal with four minutes remaining in the third.
It was an absolute beauty by Colton Sissons, who scored on a partial breakaway to give the Golden Knights the 5-4 lead. It was his second goal in two games and third of the season.
But for the third time, the Avalanche had the answer. The late equalizer came with the goalie pulled, as Artturi Lehkonen beat Hart on a one-timer off a feed from MacKinnon at 18:03.
Overtime was more of the same, with Colorado recording the only three shots and leading 6-0 in scoring chances. The Golden Knights managed to survive but fell 2-1 in the shootout. Colorado got goals from Necas and MacKinnon, who scored the game-winner. Marner scored for Vegas, but Smith and Holtz were unable to beat Wedgewood, giving the Avalanche the extra point.
There are two ways of looking at this game.
One is to focus on the fact that the Golden Knights were very competitive against the best team in the league despite being without Jack Eichel, William Karlsson and Shea Theodore.
Another is to focus on the fact that Vegas blew two multi-goal leads and allowed the Avalanche to record 100 shot attempts, which is the most Vegas has surrendered all year.
Either way, the end result is the same: the Golden Knights suffered their 11th post-regulation defeat of the season and walked away with one out of two points.
Both viewpoints are accurate, but a combination of the two is likely the most reasonable way to examine the Golden Knights’ effort.
The Golden Knights came ready to play and were competitive right out of the gate, which has been an issue for them of late. They were resilient throughout the high-scoring affair, and they didn’t seem intimidated despite the matchup.
In the face of being shorthanded against such a difficult opponent, Vegas’ depth stepped up and played a critical role. The Golden Knights got goals from Holtz, Hutton, Howden and Sissons, with all four lines chipping in on the scoresheet and 12 different players recording at least a point. Holtz led the way with his first multi-point performance as a member of the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights scored five goals for the second game in a row, and they also defended well for much of the night, particularly in the first two periods. Hart finished the game with 33 saves on 38 shots for an .868 save percentage, but it was more of an unlucky outing than an inferior performance.
“A couple unfortunate ones,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think the first three goals went in off our guys, so that’s a tough night for the goaltender. I feel bad for him. The fourth one has eyes; that’s the one you’d want back. But he made a lot of good saves, and they got some fortunate bounces.”
This was not a performance the Golden Knights should hang their heads over, but they didn’t do enough to win despite holding a one-goal lead with under two minutes left in regulation.
“We should have been able to close the game out,” Cassidy said. “We’re usually pretty good in [6-on-5] scenarios. It was a simple breakdown. They got the puck in the middle; that should never have happened.”
But the Avalanche have lost just twice in regulation for a reason, and they refused to go away.
“‘They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” Cassidy said. “You can see that with their record and their push. But I also feel like we’re walking out of there tonight, and a couple things change and we get the two points. … The third period, that’s been our best period all year. They outplayed us in the third. They were down, they pushed hard. … I like the fact that we were right there until the end. But it’s a recency bias; the recency was the third period and the overtime, and we didn’t get it done.”
Part of that can be attributed to the Avalanche’s skill. Part can be explained by Vegas being without key players, especially Eichel. The Golden Knights are not the same team with Marner playing center as they are with Eichel, and that’s bound to have repercussions against an elite team.
Still, the Golden Knights never trailed in the game.
Plus, their active sticks gave them a huge advantage in the neutral zone, and it led to a lot of chances, which is partly why Vegas scored so many times.
But it wasn’t enough. The Golden Knights held two two-goal leads as well as a one-goal advantage late in the third, and Colorado erased all three. It’s hard to ignore that fact, even if some of those goals were of the unlucky variety.
Points are precious, and it’s never ideal to leave any on the table. That being said, the Golden Knights earned and deserved the point they collected, especially considering it came against a true powerhouse.
“We still did a lot of good things out there,” Howden said. “I like that we kind of brushed [Colorado’s goals] off and kept pushing forward and getting back on track to our game.”
At the end of the day, it’s a game Vegas will look to build off in the five weeks leading up to the Olympic break.
“I think everyone’s in agreement that Colorado is the class of the league right now,” Cassidy said. “How far are we behind in that, that’s a tough one to tell right now because of all these overtime losses. … So that’s the part that’s tricky to evaluate in terms of the wins. We haven’t gotten our share in those extra time [games] for whatever reason, so I think it’s really skewed what we look like.”
The Golden Knights are next in action Monday against the Wild, and Vegas will wrap up 2025 with a matinee performance against the Predators on New Year’s Eve.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Photo via Golden Knights