Golden Knights report: ESPN broadcast picks up chirps

Golden Knights at Avalanche

At a glance: Knights win 3-1

RJ’s three stars

■ 3. Knights center Chandler Stephenson — He had a goal and an assist to give him six points this season. He’s the Knights’ leading scorer by three points.

■ 2. Knights right wing Reilly Smith — His first-period short-handed goal was all effort. He forced a turnover at the defensive blue line, protected the puck all the way down the ice and jammed it past Colorado goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

■ 1. Knights goaltender Robin Lehner — He made 26 saves to pick up his second win of the season after taking some hard-luck losses. His reactionary save on Avalanche left wing Sampo Ranta in the second period was impressive.

Key play

Left wing Evgenii Dadonov’s empty-net goal

The Knights had a 2-1 lead through most of the third period, but Colorado worked hard to try to change that. The Avalanche had four high-danger scoring chances in the third, the same amount they had in the first and second combined.

Dadonov helped the Knights seal the win after Colorado’s top line had an extended shift with an extra attacker. Stephenson, Dadonov and right wing Keegan Kolesar worked to gain the puck, and Stephenson then sprung Dadonov into open space in the neutral zone.

Dadonov attempted to let Kolesar score the goal. He passed the puck to Kolesar in the offensive zone, but tipped the puck when it was going through the crease to unintentionally score his first goal as a Knight.

Key stat

1-3-0 — The Knights’ record when scoring first entering Tuesday’s game.

It was a huge drop-off from their 31-3-2 record last regular season. But Tuesday, the team built a 2-0 lead after first-period goals from Stephenson and Smith and held on.

Hot mic

The Knights’ mouths appeared to be working just as hard as their legs at Ball Arena in Denver.

ESPN between-the-benches reporter Emily Kaplan said coming out of the first intermission that she heard someone on the Knights chirp the Avalanche by saying, “Get out of the second round, why don’t you?”

Colorado has lost in the second round of the playoffs three straight seasons, including last season to the Knights.

Pietrangelo’s all-around game

Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was busy Tuesday.

He led the team in time on ice (27:43), shots on goal (five) and shot attempts (10). His average ice time of 26:36 ranks fourth in the NHL.

Streak stuff

The win ended the Knights’ four-game losing streak. They’ve lost five in a row twice in their history, but never five straight in regulation.

It was also the team’s fifth straight win against Colorado. The Knights won four in a row after going down 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs last season.

Knights’ next 10

At Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday

Vs. Anaheim, 5 p.m. Friday

At Maple Leafs, 4 p.m. Tuesday

At Senators, 4 p.m. Nov. 4

At Montreal, 4 p.m. Nov. 6

At Detroit, 3 p.m. Nov. 7

Vs. Seattle, 7 p.m. Nov. 9

Vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. Nov. 11

Vs. Vancouver, 7 p.m. Nov. 13

Vs. Carolina, 7 p.m. Nov. 16

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.