Vegas Golden Knights: Missed opportunity all round as Avs spoil party

There will be a few anxious bodies in the Vegas Golden Knights locker room over the next few days following their 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

Although wins and losses don’t carry any significance in the preseason, the Vegas Golden Knights were using this game at T-Mobile Arena as the final opportunity for players on the bubble to stake their claim for a spot on the opening night roster.

All five rookie defensemen who are slugging it out for one roster spot played, as did Cody Glass, Brandon Pirri and Valentin Zykov who are battling each other for the right to play on the left wing on the third line in 2019-20.

Nicolas Roy was also named on the lineup card with the gritty bottom six forward hoping to begin the year as Vegas’ fourth line center. Malcolm Subban got the start between the pipes for his second game of the preseason.

However, it turned out to be a bad night at the office for the Golden Knights and for the players who had one final chance to catch the eye of the coaching staff, with Head Coach Gerard Gallant planning on using the final two exhibition games as dress rehearsals for the regular season.

Colorado outshot the Knights 32-17 and scored four uninterrupted goals, with rookie Patrick Brown getting Vegas on the board in the third period. It mattered little in the end and, again, while the loss doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, it could cost certain players the chance to begin the year in the majors.

There was also further insult added to injury quite literally last night after both Shea Theodore and Zach Whitecloud left the game with injuries and both are day-to-day, although both defensemen aren’t thought to be serious.

The Golden Knights are now 4-1-0 in the preseason with two exhibition games left, but let’s go through a brief recap of last night’s game period-by-period.

The Line-Up

As mentioned above, Malcolm Subban was given the start in net for his second outing of the preseason while a number of players on the bubble were given one final opportunity to increase their chances of being on the opening night roster.

Nic Hague, Dylan Coghlan, Jimmy Schuldt, Zach Whitecloud and Jake Bischoff all started as the battle for the one remaining roster spot on the blueline reached its climax.

And there was also a riveting storyline to keep an eye on in the offensive zone with Cody Glass, Brandon Pirri and Valentin Zykov all named on the lineup card in order to give them one last chance to showcase why they should begin the year on the third line.

Established stars such as William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Mark Stone were put together on the top line, while defenseman Shea Theodore made his preseason debut after an emotional summer.

The Game

First Period – Colorado was dominant from the start and they opened the scoring with 10:38 in the 1st after Jimmy Schuldt’s mistake led to a rush down the ice, with Matt Calvert recording his first goal of the preseason.

The shots were tied apiece at 6-6 but the Avalanche spent a large chunk of time in the Vegas zone and it was a disappointing opening period for the Knights, who failed to really turn up.

Second Period – Vegas opened the period by killing a penalty but they were clearly gassed and were punished immediately after, Vladislav Kamenev sending a one-timer beyond Malcolm Subban in net after taking an unlucky bounce off Dylan Coghlan’s leg.

It was all Colorado and they took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission after Logan O’Connor converted on the power play, with the Avs outscoring the Golden Knights 15-5 in the middle frame.

Third Period –  Both Shea Theodore and Zach Whitecloud were absent to start the final period, leaving four rookie defensemen to play out the final 20 minutes of the game. It was already a rough night for that group and it wasn’t going to get any easier.

Malcolm Subban made a smart stop after Dylan Coghlan failed to jump up which led to a 2-on-1, but it was soon 4-0 after Jayson Megna took advantage of some sloppy work from Nic Hague and Subban.

The Golden Knights had generated just three scoring chances in 56 minutes of hockey, although they did get on the board late thanks to Patrick Brown, who deflected a Curtis McKenzie shot past Colorado goalie Pavel Francouz, with Nicolas Roy getting the secondary helper.

The Knights turned in a poor showing and they were outshot 32-17 in total, failing to generate any offense of their own while being concerningly sloppy in their own zone.

Let’s go over some notes and stats from the game…