Georgiev, Avalanche shut out Golden Knights for 6th straight win

DENVER -- Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche won their sixth straight game with a 3-0 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena on Monday.

It was Georgiev's third shutout of the season and 11th in the NHL.
"I think the first period was one of the tougher ones for me, but I think we played really, really great [in the] second and third," Georgiev said. "Didn't let them get too much going on. We're playing really, really good right now, and it's not a big workload in terms of shots. So fun to play like that."

Mikko Rantanen scored two goals for the Avalanche (34-19-5), who are 7-0-1 in their past eight games.
Colorado has scored first in 16 of its past 19 games, going 13-1-2 in those games.
"Catch up hockey's losing hockey. There's no question," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "[It's] part of the recipe for success, and if you look at our last 16 games, we've scored or we've played with the lead a lot. I think we're currently in the best stretch of hockey we've played this year. It's also the best lineup that we've had all year long."
Adin Hill made 31 saves for the Golden Knights (35-19-6), who had their nine-game point streak end (6-0-3).
"They checked us really well," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I thought the difference in the game for us, in the O-zone, we got pushed off pucks pretty much all night. We generated a few slot looks, but we didn't get the second chance from that. If you want to score goals in this league, you got to separate and be hard on it or you got to execute at a high level. Tonight, we did not do that. That was very evident."

Rantanen scored 14 seconds into the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead after Hill passed him the puck from behind his net. Rantanen has scored in five straight games.
"Usually they rim it, and usually the goalies see the guy there. So I guessed that maybe he's going to do it," Rantanen said. "It's nice to start the game that way, I guess. Get the lead and get feeling good."
Rantanen extended the lead to 2-0 when he one-timed a backdoor pass from J.T. Compher at 16:20 of the second period. It was his 40th goal in 58th game this season, becoming the fastest player to reach the mark in Avalanche history.
"It's just a number. I feel like it doesn't really change too much," Rantanen said. "I'm not going to celebrate it too much tonight. [It's] more about the win and the two points. I'm glad to help the team. If I can score as many goals as I can, then I think it's going to help the team win. So that's all I care about."

Nathan MacKinnon scored into an empty net to make it 3-0 at 16:33 of the third period. He has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) during an eight-game point streak.
NOTES: Ivan Barbashev made his debut for Vegas after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. He was minus-1 in 16:40 of ice time. … Jack Johnson made his debut for Colorado after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. He had one shot on goal in 19:19. … The Avalanche scored on their first shot of the game for the third consecutive game. … Rantanen is the fourth Finland-born player in NHL history to score at least 40 goals in a season, joining (Patrik Laine (once), Jari Kurri (seven times) and Teemu Selanne (seven times).