Vegas Held Scoreless vs Avs

Vegas Held Scoreless vs Avs

For the second time in as many games, the Vegas Golden Knights fail to put up a goal as they lose 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night inside T-Mobile Arena.

With this loss, Vegas falls to second place in the Pacific Division and sit three points behind the Calgary Flames.

This is the first time this season that the Knights have been shutout on their home ice. It’s also the first time this year that Vegas has been shutout in back to back games.

Wednesday night marked the highly-anticipated debut of Jack Eichel who was recovering from artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck that he had November 12th. Wednesday marked the first time that Eichel had been in an NHL game since March 7, 2021.

“I thought he worked hard. He did a good job. You saw flashes of what he’s going to be able to do for us . He made some really good plays,” Vegas Head Coach Pete Deboer said.

Eichel picked up the first two Vegas penalties. The first penalty for Interference and the second penalty for high sticking. Along with the penalties, Eichel also registered his first shot on goal as a Vegas Golden Knight and registered a total of 17:32 time on ice.

“Honestly, I was having a pretty fun time out there. There’s some stuff to build on., but it’s a process and I know it’s going to get better. I didn’t expect it to be perfect tonight,” Eichel said after his debut.

The Vegas crowd gave Eichel a warm welcome during warmups and the starting lineup.

Both teams brought an abundance of energy and intensity especially through the first two periods. Both had breakaway chances that could have ended in goals but were stopped by the blockers of Brossoit and Kemper.

Colorado set the tone early in the third period by scoring the game’s first goal off the stick of Gabriel Landeskog only 41 seconds into the third.

Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen added the insurance goal via a power play being served by Alex Pietrangelo with 4:15 left in regulation.

The next game for the Golden Knights will take place Friday, February 18th at 7 p.m. as they welcome the  Los Angeles Kings to T-Mobile Arena. The game can be seen on AT&T Sportsnet in Las Vegas.