The Vegas Golden Knights played against the Colorado Avalanche in a late afternoon game on Sunday. Recently, Vegas has come under a lot of scrutiny from NHL fans since Mark Stone returned to practice a few days ago, just in time for the playoffs. Mark is on LTIR (long-term injury reserve) and will stay out of the lineup until the playoffs due to the necessary cap space, which has upset many NHL fans. Both teams have already secured their spots in the playoffs, and the Avalanche dominated the first period of the game. Ross Colton began the scoring with a wrist-shot goal to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. Only three minutes later, Cale Makar scored a wrist-shot goal to make it 2-0, and Alexander Georgiev made many crucial saves to send the Avalanche into the intermission with a 2-0 lead.
In the second period, not much changed except for the Avalanche extending their lead to 3-0 with a goal from Mikko Rantanen, his 41st of the year. Alexander Georgiev continued his stellar performance, keeping the Avalanche from conceding and maintaining their 3-0 lead for the rest of the period. The period was characterized by tight checking from both teams, with each team taking 11 shots. The Avalanche displayed an aggressive play in the first two periods and were showing signs of growing confidence, but this momentum did not last.
During the third period of the game, the Avalanche team faced a challenging situation. The Vegas Golden Knights made a strong comeback and turned the tables on the Avalanche. Ivan Barbashev scored a wrap-around goal that should have been an easy blocker-save from Georgiev. The Avalanche team appeared tired and lacked energy. Later, William Karlsson scored a power-play goal to pull the Knights within one, which was possible due to a bad penalty committed by Josh Manson. The Avalanche team’s lack of solid defense and discipline cost them the game as William Karlsson scored a snap-shot goal to tie the score at 3-3. In the final minute of regulation time, Josh Manson committed another undiscipline penalty, which carried over into the overtime period.
To begin overtime, the Josh Manson minor penalty carried over, which ultimately cost the Avalanche the game as Tomas Hertl tipped in the power-play goal in front of Georgiev and won the game 4-3. This defeat is worrisome for Avalanche as it shows a lack of confidence, which is not good news heading into the playoffs. However, the Avalanche still earned a point in the standings and are now one point behind the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division. They have one more game to play against the Edmonton Oilers at home on Thursday in Denver. On the other hand, with this win, the Golden Knights are now one point behind the LA Kings for the third spot in the Pacific Division. They will face the Chicago Blackhawks & Anaheim Ducks to finish off the regular season.
Thank you for the insight on the game regarding future standings for the playoffs.