Golden Knights take ending of four-game series vs. Barrage with explosive second time period

Take a look at this piece by Mike Chambers from The Denver Post discussing several important events for the week. Mike Chambers recently posted the article and I thought it was well worth posting on this website.

Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made a desperation two-pad stick save on Nazem Kadri late in the first period Monday at Ball Arena, preventing what looked like a sure Avalanche goal — the first of the game.

“They’re just fun,” Fleury said of the desperation save, “especially when you stop them.”

Fleury and the Golden Knights had much more fun than the Avs in the fourth consecutive meeting between the West Division heavyweights, winning 3-0 to salvage a split of the four-game “series.”

Three Vegas forwards had big games and goalie Fleury made several outstanding saves en route to his second shutout over the Avs since last week’s opener in Las Vegas. Alex Tuch had two goals, William Karlsson had two primary assists and Jonathan Marchessault scored the Knights’ third goal in a nine-minute span of the second period which served as the key stretch of the game.

Colorado outshot Vegas 34-28, including 15-6 in the third period. But the Avs committed nine giveaways to the Knights’ three, and Vegas blocked 17 shots to Colorado’s 11.

The Avalanche drew just one penalty and failed to score on the power play, which is now 0-of-16 in the last six games.

“Fleury was good but that wasn’t our best effort,” Avs forward Matt Calvert said. “We got a lot of our chances in the third period when they were sitting back and defending a 3-0 lead. We can’t come out in a game like that against a top team in the league. For whatever reason it was we didn’t have our legs and weren’t putting in the work right off the bat. It costs us in the end.”

The Knights improved to a division-leading 11-4-1. The Avs (9-5-1) are third behind St. Louis (10-7-2) with four games in hand over the Blues.

It was the Avs’ first home loss since opening night on Jan. 13 when they fell 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues. Colorado had won five straight home games, the longest streak in the NHL, and it included Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Vegas in Lake Tahoe, which counted as an Avalanche home game.

Colorado entered Monday outscoring its opponents 23-6 during the home winning streak (20-4 at Ball Arena). The Avs, who also play the Minnesota Wild at Ball Arena for a makeup game Wednesday, fell to 6-2-1 in their last nine games overall.

“I give them credit. They came out and played hard. They challenged us on the defensive side of it,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of the Knights. “I would guess that’s the most chances they’ve created against us in the four games that we’ve played. I did not love us defensively. I think they won the bulk of the battles which led to their chances. On the other side of it, we looked sluggish that we didn’t have our jump, our legs, and we lacked energy for the better part of the game.”

Avs star center Nathan MacKinnon, who was the player of the game in Saturday’s outdoor game, was relatively quiet in his 539th NHL game — all with the Avs — to surpass Paul Stastny for 10th-most games played in an Avalanche jersey.

Marchessault scored Vegas’ third goal at 11:06 of the second period. His wrist shot from between the circle beat goalie Philipp Grubauer to the stick side. Karlsson set the play up from the sideboards with a short headman pass — his second of the period.

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Tuch broke through twice after neither team struck in the opening 20 minutes. Tuch’s first came on the power play at 2:53 into the middle frame. He accepted a short pass on the Avs’ blueline from Karlsson, split defenders Ryan Graves and Tyson Jost to the net, and beat Grubauer on the breakaway. Avs defenseman Conor Timmins was in the penalty box serving a tripping minor.

Tuch scored again at 6:14 to double Vegas’ lead. He took possession of the puck in the neutral zone and drove hard to the net from the left wing. Grubauer stopped his back-hand bid but the rebound caromed in off the skate of rookie Avs defenseman Bo Byram.

The Avs entered the game with an NHL-low goals-against average of 2.07. Vegas was second at 2.20 and Fleury on Monday helped prove how stingy the Knights can be.

Footnotes. Avs second-year defenseman Cale Makar was minus-2 with just one shots. Sitll, he played a team-high 25:02. Right winger Mikko Rantanen and Byram were also minus-2. … The Avalanche used the same lineup from Lake Tahoe, which was nearly at full-strength. Defenseman Erik Johnson (upper-body) and backup goalie Pavel Francouz (lower-body) remain out long-term with injuries. Also, it was announced Monday that depth defenseman Dennis Gilbert underwent surgery to repair a facial bone. Gilbert was injured in a fight with Vegas’ Keegan Kolesar last week in the second game of the “series.” … Referee Tom Chmielewski of Colorado Springs worked the game. He is the NHL’s only full-time ref from Colorado.