Valeri Nichushkin had two goals, Alexandar Georgiev had 25 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Denver on Wednesday night.
Logan O’Connor also scored and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for the Avalanche, who have won six of their last eight games. The shutout was the 15th of Georgiev’s seven-year career.
Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon had one assist to tie Joe Sakic for the longest home point streak in franchise history.
Jiri Patera turned away 32 shots for Vegas, which has lost seven of its last nine games.
The reigning Stanley Cup champions continue to struggle with injuries that have decimated their lineup. Vegas goaltender Adin Hill is still out but could return this week, while William Karlsson and William Carrier continue to miss time.
Vegas did get defenseman Zach Whitecloud back after he was scratched in Saturday’s win over the New York Islanders.
The Avalanche were without Miles Wood (illness) for the third straight game, and defenseman Josh Manson (undisclosed) was out for the second straight game.
The game was scoreless for most of the first period, but a late penalty on Whitecloud gave Colorado a power play with 24 seconds left in the frame. Just 10 seconds into the man advantage, Rantanen fed Nichushkin in front of the net, and he lifted a shot over Patera to make it 1-0.
The Avalanche struck again when Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb went off for interference at 11:11 of the second period, and it didn’t take long for Colorado to cash in.
MacKinnon’s shot at an open net grazed off the left post, went behind the net and trickled over to Rantanen. He sent a blind pass to Nichushkin on the right side of the crease and beat Patera again at 11:44.
It was Nichushkin’s 22nd goal of the season, tying him with MacKinnon for the team lead.
The Avalanche cushioned the lead midway through the third when O’Connor’s shot from the point deflected off the stick of Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague and over Patera’s glove at 9:20.
It was O’Connor’s seventh of the season.
–Field Level Media
