Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) skates during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, Feb.16, 2022. Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) is at left.
Published Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 | 9:52 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 | 11:54 p.m.
Jack Eichel had fun playing hockey again — an improvement from his last game action 11 months ago.
Yet, it wasn’t the kind of night Eichel hoped for in his Golden Knights debut, as Vegas fell 2-0 on Wednesday to the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena. He took two penalties and had just one shot in 17:32 of ice time.
“It’s good to get back doing it,” Eichel said after playing his first game since March 7, 2021. “There’s some stuff to build on, but it’s a process. I know it’s going to get better. I didn’t expect it to be perfect.”
He had two chances at a goal 10 minutes into the game; one where the puck bounced off his skate facing an open net, and another where he mistimed a pass from Max Pacioretty.
But there were flashes of good play that showed why the Golden Knights invested so much — forwards Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs, a future first-round pick and second-round pick — to get Eichel.
His speed, especially getting back to the defensive zone, was on display early. And one of the better passers in the league, Eichel set his teammates up for dangerous chances, most notably a cross-ice pass to Evgenii Dadonov in the second period that nearly got Vegas on the board. Dadonov fired it over the net.
“I thought he worked hard,” Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer said. “Eleven months off, jumping in the middle of the season against, arguably, the best team in the league, it’s a big ask. I thought he did a good job.”
Eichel’s name was announced first in the starting lineup and met with a roaring ovation by the home crowd. He spent most of the night facing Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon in the defensive zone.
“That’s what he’s here for,” DeBoer said of Eichel facing MacKinnon. “There’s no sense in easing him in, and I don’t think he’s a guy that wants to be eased in. Out here in this conference, you’ve got to get used to that.”
The dust settled on what, ultimately, was a big day for the Golden Knights organization. The reality now sets in that the Golden Knights have been shut out in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history.
After losing 6-0 a week ago in Calgary, DeBoer hoped for a better effort offensively. He felt he got that from his group this time around. They just couldn’t solve Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper, who made 28 saves for his third shutout of the season.
The Golden Knights played with 11 forwards for most of the night. Nolan Patrick left 14 seconds into his first shift after taking a shot to the head from MacKinnon. Patrick, who has a history with migraines, did not return and DeBoer did not have an update after the game.
Laurent Brossoit, coming off his first shutout of the season Feb. 7 in Edmonton, picked up where he left off by turning aside all 19 shots through two periods. Colorado finally broke through on the 20th shot when Gabriel Landeskog scored 41 seconds into the third for the opening goal.
That ended Brossoit’s shutout streak at 100:14.
“He gave us a chance all night,” DeBoer said of Brossoit. “He went head-to-head with one of the best goalies in the league at the other end. He was as good as Kuemper was.”
The Golden Knights’ schedule starts to normalize with four games in the next eight days. That could be enough time to wash off the rust for Eichel before Vegas plays 16 games in March.
“There’s no way to emulate game pace and game conditioning,” Eichel said. “The timing, it’s going to take a few games for me to get it back, but I’m pretty happy with some things out there. There’s a lot of good to build on with our group.”
