Vegas Golden Knights players celebrate another goal over the Colorado Avalanche during their game at the T-Mobile Arena on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 | 5:46 p.m.
The Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche by a touchdown Friday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.
The impressive 7-0 victory was the highest score in franchise history, the first shutout in franchise history and capped off the first five-game winning streak for an expansion team in NHL history.
Perhaps most impressive, the Golden Knights got the goals by seven different players.
After a slow start, tied 0-0 after one period, the Golden Knights offense came alive with four goals in the second period, and three more in the third.
Oscar Dansk stopped all 32 of Colorado’s shots for the shutout in only the third game of his NHL career. Varlamov allowed seven goals on only 20 shots on goal by Vegas but was not pulled from the game.
The win elevates the Golden Knights to 8-1-0 on the season before they head on the road for the next six games.
Golden Knights lead Avalanche 4-0 after two periods
The Golden Knights exploded for four goals on six shots in the second period to take a commanding 4-0 lead over the Colorado Avalanche.
David Perron started it off when he intercepted a pass at his own blue line and was off to the races. The winger flew down the ice, deked Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov onto the ice and backhanded the puck into the top of the net to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
Shortly after, Oscar Lindberg weaved through Colorado defenders with a great individual effort,and again beat Varlamov to extend Vegas’ lead to 2-0.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar challenged that Lindberg was offside on the play but after a video review the goal was upheld.
Cody Eakin then capitalized on a lucky bounce after Neal’s shot missed the net and ended up in front of the goal by tapping it in to extend the Golden Knights lead to 3-0. Then James Neal tipped a shot by Colin Miller into the top corner for his seventh goal of the season.
Colorado outshot the Golden Knights 13-6 in the period but Oscar Dansk stopped them all.
Golden Knights tied 0-0 with Avalanche after one period
After 20 minutes of hockey the Golden Knights and Avalanche are still scoreless at T-Mobile Arena.
The teams traded power plays and scoring chances but on each occasion, goalies Oscar Dansk and Semyon Varlamov were up to the task. Shots on goal were 8-6 in favor of Colorado but the best scoring opportunity came in the opening minutes for the Golden Knights.
Reilly Smith had a wide-open net on a rebound after Varlamov made a save but the puck bounced over Smith’s stick.
Vegas’ leading goal scorer James Neal drew a double-minor penalty on the Avalanche for high sticking, but left the game and didn’t return for the final nine minutes of the period.
Pre-game
The Golden Knights have shocked the entire NHL by winning seven of their first eight games.
Vegas has won nearly every imaginable way to this point, whether it’s leading wire-to-wire, coming from behind, winning comfortably or scoring in overtime. The one thing the Golden Knights haven’t faced is the expectation of winning.
They enter Friday afternoon’s clash with the Colorado Avalanche as minus-120 favorites in the sportsbooks, and after wins over Western Conference powers St. Louis and Chicago you could say it’s the first game the Golden Knights are expected to win.
Coach Gerard Gallant said it won’t be an issue.
“We are the 31st team,” Gallant said. “We are an expansion team and everybody’s better than us. We have to come in here and play hard and work hard. We are far from that stage of worrying about the level of competition.”
Puck drops: 3:00 p.m.
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM
TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink Prism 1760, Dish Network 5414)
Betting line: Golden Knights minus-120, Total 5.5 minus-120 to the over
Golden Knights (7-1-0) (5-1-0 home)
Coach: Gerard Gallant
Goal leader: James Neal (6)
Assist leader: Reilly Smith and Luca Sbisa (5)
Expected goalie: Oscar Dansk (2-0-0, 2.43 goals against average)
Colorado Avalanche (5-4-0) (2-3-0 away)
Coach: Jared Bednar
Goal leader: Six tied (3)
Assist leader: Tyson Barrie and Mikko Rantenen (6)
Expected goalie:Semyon Varlamov (4-2-0, 2.34 goals against average)
Golden Knights game day roster
Forwards (12): Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, William Carrier, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Oscar Lindberg, Jonathan Marchessault, James Neal, Tomas Nosek, David Perron, Reilly Smith and Alex Tuch.
Defensemen (6): Deryk Engelland, Brad Hunt, Brayden McNabb, Colin Miller, Luca Sbisa and Nate Schmidt
Goalies (2): Oscar Dansk and Maxime Lagace
Prediction : Golden Knights 4, Avalanche 3
Season record for predictions: 3-4
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