Rapid Recap: Golden Knights 1, Avalanche 0

The Colorado Avalanche outshot the Vegas Golden Knights 30-24 but couldn't find the back of the net and fell 1-0 at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Max Pacioretty scored the only goal of the game early in the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle, and Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 30 shots he faced.
The Avalanche went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves in the outing. Ryan Graves, Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews each recorded four shots on goal in the outing.
It was the first game for Colorado since Feb. 2 when it hosted the Minnesota Wild in Denver.

The Avs and Golden Knights meet again at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday in the second outing of a four-game set.

THE GOALS

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
1:38 VGK (0-1) - Max Pacioretty opened the game's scoring with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.
3rd Period
No Scoring
Final: Golden Knights - 1 | Avalanche - 0

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 1
Vegas: 0 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer was between the pipes for the first time since Feb. 2 and made 23-of-24 saves.
Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury played for the second-straight day and stopped all 30 shots he faced.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Brandon Saad skated in his 600th career game, the fourth player from the 2011 NHL draft class to hit the mark. He has recorded 174 goals and 181 assists in the league with the Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets.

NOTEBOOK

Valeri Nichushkin played in the 300th contest of his career… Pierre-Edouard Bellemare wore an 'A' on his sweater as an alternate captain with Gabriel Landeskog out of the lineup… Adam Werner dressed for the first time this season, serving as Philipp Grubauer's backup goaltender… Joonas Donskoi's five-game point streak ended. He had three goals and two assists in his five-game stretch, which tied his career high... It was the 11th time that the Avs have played on Valentine's Day. Colorado now sports a 5-5-1 record on the day... Vegas will be the first opponent to ever play the Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques four consecutive times in the regular season. The Avs and Wild were supposed to face off in four uninterrupted meetings from Jan. 30 to Feb. 4, but the final game of that stretch was postponed… Samuel Girard's streak of 231 consecutive regular-season games played came to an end due to a COVID protocol-related absence. His streak ranks as the second-longest ever by an Avalanche defenseman.

IMAGE OF THE GAME

ROSTER REPORT

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews returned to the lineup after all missed Colorado's last game on Feb. 2, and Bellemare and Toews two contests prior as well. MacKinnon was on a line with Brandon Saad and Mikko Rantanen. Jayson Megna skated in his first game of the season, doing so on a line with Bellemare and Sheldon Dries, who dressed in his second outing of the year. Nazem Kadri centered a line with Andre Burakovsky and Joonas Donskoi. The final trio comprised of J.T. Compher, Logan O'Connor and Valeri Nichushkin. Defenseman Dennis Gilbert was reinserted into the lineup and played his second game of the season. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer started his 10th game of the campaign and Adam Werner dressed as the backup netminder.

INJURY UPDATE

Cale Makar missed his first game of the season with an upper-body injury; he is day-to-day. Forward Matt Calvert (upper body) is making progress in his recovery and was expected to start skating on his own this weekend. Defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) and goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) remain out with their ailments. Forwards Tyson Jost and Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Samuel Girard missed the game due to COVID protocol.

UP NEXT

Colorado and Vegas continue their four-game set on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena. The clubs will also meet outdoors at Lake Tahoe on Saturday and then at Ball Arena on Feb. 22.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
20 Brandon Saad - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 25 Logan O'Connor
12 Jayson Megna - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 15 Sheldon Dries
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 22 Conor Timmins
4 Bowen Byram - 9 Dennis Gilbert
34 Jacob MacDonald - 27 Ryan Graves
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
30 Adam Werner