Avalanche Beat Golden Knights on Kadri’s Late Goal

Nazem Kadri broke a 2-2 tie with just 39.7 seconds left in the third period on Tuesday night to give the Colorado Avalanche two big points in regulation against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

Twice Colorado took the lead in the game, and twice the Golden Knights battled back to tie it on goals from Max Pacioretty and Jonathan Marchessault. For most of the game, the Avalanche did a good job of limiting the Golden Knights scoring chances to the perimeter or squelching them entirely. The few times Vegas did manage to penetrate to the front of the net they were dangerous, but did not do it enough.

Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss in net for Vegas with 21 saves, while Philipp Grubauer was solid for the second straight game making 27 saves for the win.

Tom’s Takeaways:

• The game was nothing short of what you’d expect from two top teams in the NHL. Opportunities were few and far between. Both goalies were very good. Mistakes were few. Overall, these two teams showed why they’ll battle it out tooth and nail for the top spot in the Honda West Division all season.
• It was nice to see Vegas once again score on the power play, with Max Pacioretty slotting a shot over the glove hand of Grubauer. The Golden Knights need special teams to continue to be sharp in this shortened season.
• Alex Pietrangelo returned to the lineup after missing a few games due to injury and skated 24:33 with four blocks, two shots and one hit.
• Cale Makar once again did not play for the Colorado Avalanche due to an upper-body injury.
• Nazem Kadri scored his first marker in five games and only his fourth of the season when he beat Marc-Andre Fleury with 39.7 seconds left.
• Tonight marked the first time in nine games this season the Vegas Golden Knights didn’t win when Jonathan Marchessault records a point.
• Game three of the current four-game set between the two teams will come this Saturday outdoors at Lake Tahoe. Puck drop is set for noon PT with national coverage on NBC.