Golden Knights fall to Avalanche, fail to clinch playoff spot
DENVER — The Golden Knights were unable to clinch their spot in the playoffs on their second attempt Wednesday. And their hopes of catching San Jose for second place may have slipped away, too.
Colorado scored two early goals, and the Knights were unable to recover in a 4-3 loss to the Avalanche at Pepsi Center.
“I think we were the better team tonight, but we put ourselves in a hole in the first period and didn’t have enough to dig ourselves out,” right wing Reilly Smith said. “I think we were a little slow in the first period and I think we just have to do a better job of coming in with a little bit more effort in the first period.”
Paul Stastny and Smith scored 3:50 apart in the second period for the Knights, who lost their third straight and were unable to gain ground on idle San Jose in the Pacific Division.
Alex Tuch added his 20th goal with 3:23 left in the third period, and the Knights had two chances for the tying goal late but were unable to convert.
The Knights, who trail the second-place Sharks by five points with five games remaining, would have sealed their spot in the postseason with a point against Colorado.
Instead, they will have to wait until Friday to try again and will clinch with a point against Minnesota or an Arizona loss to Colorado.
“We lost the game in the first period because we didn’t compete and didn’t battle and got outskated,” coach Gerard Gallant said.
Malcolm Subban made his sixth straight start for the Knights in net and finished with 26 saves, but also was responsible on two of the Avalanche’s goals. He fell to 2-9 with a 3.48 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in 11 road games.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and defenseman Tyson Barrie added a goal and and two assists for Colorado, which led 3-0 midway the second period before the Knights responded.
The Avalanche moved two points ahead of Arizona for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“We left (Subban) hanging a couple too many times,” Tuch said. “He’s been really good for us lately, but he’s not going to stop the guy coming down the slot with no one on him every time. He bailed us out a couple times tonight, and we weren’t able to capitalize on all our opportunities.”
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves for Colorado to earn his fifth win in his past six starts.
The Knights trailed 3-0 midway through the second period but appeared to get a spark from Jonathan Marchessault, who took a hard hit behind the net then unloaded a barrage of punches that bloodied the face of Colorado forward Sven Andrighetto.
“We needed someone to step up, maybe someone that’s not used to stepping up in the most physical way,” Tuch said. “He dropped them, he was fired up and he got the rest of the team fired up. … It was a good play by a veteran guy coming out, stepping up and trying to turn the game around.”
Less than a minute later, Stastny picked up a rebound behind the net and put a wraparound past Grubauer for his 11th goal.
Smith then cut the deficit to 3-2 at 14:47 of the second when Marchessault’s shot from the point was stopped and the rebound went to William Karlsson.
Instead of shooting, Karlsson found a wide-open Smith at the back post for an easy tap-in and his 19th goal.
But the momentum shifted back with 2:50 left in the second period when Gabriel Bourque notched his second goal to give the Avalanche a 4-2 advantage.
Bourque took a cross-ice pass from defenseman Nikita Zadorov and snapped a shot to the stick side of Subban, who was beaten despite having a clear look.
The Avalanche extended their point streak to six games (5-0-1) despite playing without two of their top three scorers (Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog).
But Colorado showed more urgency in the first period and caused fits for the Knights’ defensemen with a tenacious forecheck.
Tyson Jost helped give the Avalanche the lead when beat defenseman Shea Theodore to a dump-in and centered for Matt Calvert, who was left unchecked in the slot. Calvert’s shot beat Subban to the stick side for his 11th goal at 5:39 of the first.
MacKinnon proved to be a handful for the Knights early and was rewarded with his 38th goal on a power play less than three minutes later. The Avalanche’s leading scorer spun away from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who was at the end of a long shift, and snapped a shot from the left faceoff dot that deflected off Deryk Engelland’s stick and past Subban.
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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
Three takeaways
1. New lines. Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant changed his lines Wednesday, putting Alex Tuch and Tomas Nosek on the second line with center Paul Stastny and Mark Stone on the third line with Cody Eakin and Ryan Carpenter. With the offense struggling, Stone and Nosek eventually switched spots in the second period.
2. Closer to full strength. The Knights still had a few regulars out of the lineup but were able to return defenseman Shea Theodore and center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Theodore, who missed Monday's game due to illness, was a minus-3 in a team-high 22:36 of ice time.
3. Engelland struggles. Defenseman Deryk Engelland had a difficult night trying to match up against Nathan MacKinnon. The Avalanche star spun Engelland like a top in the first period, leading to a scoring chance. Engelland also took his first penalty since Dec. 23 in the third period.
David Schoen Review-Journal
