Rapid Recap: Avalanche 6, Golden Knights 1

Forwards Nazem Kadri and Matt Calvert both found the back of the net twice in the Colorado Avalanche's 6-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Friday afternoon.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got the Avs on the scoreboard just 28 seconds into the contest and added two more assists in his first contest against his former team. Rookie defenseman Cale Makar also tallied for Colorado, his first regular-season goal in the NHL.

Colorado scored in each of the three periods of the contest and has now found the back of the net at least once in 23 of its 30 regulation stanzas this year.
Vegas forward William Karlsson tallied the Golden Knights' only goal of the game. Avs goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves in the outing.
Colorado is now 8-1-1 on the season and will complete its back-to-back set against the Anaheim Ducks at Pepsi Center on Saturday.
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Highlights

THE GOALS

1st Period
0:28 COL (1-0) - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare picked off a Mark Stone pass, skated through the slot and scored to give the Avs an early lead.
18:30 VGK (1-1) - William Karlsson scored on a one-timer to tie the game.
19:13 COL (2-1) - Nazem Kadri received the puck from Colin Wilson as he was entering the offensive zone and found the back of the net after taking a shot from the top of the left circle.
2nd Period
7:55 COL (3-1) - Cale Makar buried a loose puck to score his first NHL regular-season goal. Nathan MacKinnon and J.T. Compher assisted on the tally.
10:11 COL (4-1) PPG, Nathan MacKinnon skated around a Vegas player that was without his stick and found Nazem Kadri, who tallied his second of the game.
15:50 COL (5-1) - Matt Calvert goes top shelf on a 2-on-1 with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
3rd Period
17:58 COL (6-1) - SHG, Matt Calvert scored his first short-handed tally as a member of the Avalanche and his second goal of the game.
Final: Avalanche - 6 | Golden Knights - 1

3 STARS

Selected by AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 3
Vegas: 0 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado:Philipp Grubauer made 25-of-26 saves in his eighth contest of the season.
Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced before being replaced by Garret Sparks 12:36 into the second period. Sparks allowed two goals on 14 shots.

STAT OF THE GAME

Cale Makar scored his first NHL regular-season goal in the second period. It was his ninth point (one goal, eight assists) this month, the most ever by an Avs rookie defenseman in October (since 1995-96). Makar's eight helpers are tied for the Avalanche record for the most assists by a rookie D-man in a single month, and his nine points are the third most by a first-year Colorado blueliner in any month.

NOTEBOOK

Nathan MacKinnon set a new Avalanche record (since 1995-96) for the longest point streak to start a season at 10 games… Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored Colorado's fastest goal of the season, finding the back of the net just 28 seconds into the contest. The outing marked his first against his former club… Bellemare also added two assists to set a new career high with three points in the outing… Matt Calvert scored his first short-handed tally as a member of the Avalanche, the seventh shorty of his career... The Avalanche has now scored five or more goals in a game for the fifth time this season, the first time since 1992-93 that the franchise has had five or more games with five-plus goals through its first 10 contests of a campaign… Nazem Kadri registered the 23rd multi-goal game of his career and his first with the Avalanche. He last scored twice on Feb. 12, 2019 at Colorado as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs… Colorado's 8-1-1 record is tied for its fourth-best mark through 10 games in franchise history… The Avs are now 6-0-1 when scoring first this season… Erik Johnson played his 524th game as a member of the Avalanche, surpassing John-Michael Liles to take sole possession of second place in games played by an Avalanche defenseman...The contest was the first of six afternoon games for the Avalanche this season (two on the road, four at home). Colorado was 7-4-2 in matinee matchups last year… The Avs concluded their season-long, six-game road trip with a 4-1-1 record… The Avalanche's win at T-Mobile Arena was the first time in the all-time matchup between Colorado and Vegas that the road team earned the victory.

QUOTABLE

Cale Makar on scoring his first goal in the regular season after previously tallying in the playoffs:"It just feels good to get it out of the way. For me, it feels like the first one. But it's over and down with now and you just got to move on."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Hello old friends.

ROSTER REPORT

J.T. Compher began the game on the first line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog… Head coach Jared Bednar also made a change to his defensive pairings, splitting up Cale Makar and Nikita Zadorov. Makar started the contest with Ian Cole while Zadorov skated with Ryan Graves… Valeri Nichushkin was on a line with Tyson Jost and Colin Wilson after being a scratch for the last four games… Philipp Grubauer started in net.

INJURY UPDATE

Mikko Rantanen missed his first game of the season. He is week-to-week with a lower-body injury after getting hurt on Monday at the St. Louis Blues.

UP NEXT

Colorado completes its second back-to-back of the season at home on Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks. The contest will be the first of a three-game homestand for the Avs.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 37 J.T. Compher
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
22 Colin Wilson - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
28 Ian Cole - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 16 Nikita Zadorov
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer (starter)
39 Pavel Francouz (backup)