Listless opening period dooms Golden Knights in Colorado

DENVER — The Golden Knights brought the intensity to win Wednesday’s game. The final push was one of the better looks of the season, and they even got a goal out of it.

The problem was, it all came too late.

The Golden Knights could not dig themselves out of a first-period hole, and despite generating eight shot attempts in the final minute, failed to net the equalizer and fell to the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3, at Pepsi Center.

“I thought we had a really dominant third, but that’s 20 out of 60 minutes, and that’s something that can’t happen,” forward Alex Tuch said.

Tuch brought back to life a Walking Dead of Golden Knights skaters with his 20th goal of the season at 16:37, cutting the deficit to the game’s final margin. Then Vegas pulled goalie Malcolm Subban for an extra attacker with 1:12 remaining in the game, setting up a 6-on-5 situation.

The problem is, the Golden Knights have not been great in those instances. Vegas has only three 6-on-5 goals this season but looked as good as it has all season Wednesday. Colorado’s defense was just enough, as Jonathan Marchessault missed the net as time expired to hand Vegas its third-straight loss.

“That’s something that we need to concentrate on because we’re going to be in tight situations throughout the rest of the season and the playoffs,” Tuch said. “It’s something that we need to work on, be better at, but I thought we took steps in the right direction.”

Subban was not on his game either, particularly in the second period. Down 2-0, Tyson Barrie scored on a point shot that Subban never saw, and one he lamented after the game.

"Off the draw guys were skating in front of me and I lost the puck, and I didn't pick it up again through the traffic," he said. “It’s not easy to come back in this league. You want to try to make a couple of saves early so you don’t get behind the 8-ball and they got a couple goals.”

The Golden Knights outscored Colorado 3-2 after the first period, a 20-minute session Vegas would rather forget. The Golden Knights were listless to open the game, surrendering two goals and getting outshot 12-8. Colorado scored before Vegas had a shot on goal, and two goals before Vegas had as many shots.

"We should be battling from the first shift. That's where we lost the game,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We lost the game in the first period because we didn't compete, we didn't battle, and we got out-skated."