On Sunday night the Golden Knights came out strong and cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. In their second preseason game, Vegas traveled to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche with a completely different lineup.
Vegas forward Valentin Zykov opened up the scoring on a weird, puck pinball play off of his stick and past the Avalanche goaltender. Vegas and Colorado both went scoreless on their power plays, however it was notable that forwards Alex Tuch and William Carrier play some minutes on the penalty kill.
Early in the 2nd period veteran scoring forward Brandon Pirri made it a 2-0 game on an accurate high slot shot. Tomas Nosek and Nate Schmidt were given assists on Pirri’s first goal of the preseason. The Golden Knights fought off an Avs two-man advantage midway through the period, but failed to score on their two-man advantage. The 2nd period ended with Vegas up two.
Young defensive prospect Nic Hague scored the Golden Knights third goal of the night, and center Nicholas Roy added the team’s fourth :46 seconds later. Pirri would add his second and the Golden Knights second Power Play goal of the contest to stretch the lead 5-0. Goaltender Garrett Sparks gave Vegas a strong performance stopping all 23 shots on goal by Colorado to secure the shutout.
The (2-0) Golden Knights will get back to action on Thursday night in Los Angeles. Vegas’ third exhibition game will begin at 7:30P against the LA Kings. (Recap by Jason)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Colorado Avalanche preseason game at Pepsi Center.
- Nate Schmidt played on the left in this game, but Gallant said he’ll play on the right in season. If that’s the case, what’s it mean for the rest of the lineup?
- The difficulty for veterans playing with rookies in preseason games
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Brandon Pirri
** Valentin Zykov
* Garret Sparks
Do I have a new favorite Russian?
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 18, 2019
The Pirri, Zykov, Nosek line's dominance is just further confusing me. They've all been good. How am I supposed to decide who is best when they make plays for each other?
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 18, 2019
I've waited long enough. For me, it's Dylan Coghlan's job. Someone is going to have to take it from him in the next 5 and a half games.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 18, 2019
No one sent the Golden Knights the memo that you aren't really supposed to hit in the preseason. They are laying bodies on guys every chance they get. Colorado seems to be keeping their wits about it, many teams won't.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 18, 2019
vgk2019
Pirri and Zykov look real good together. Sparks looks better than Subban. and Hague was great in the second half of the game, after a really slow start. Coghlan and Whitecloud both played solid again. and Carrier was a hustling, physical force as usual.
Mark
Zykov looks like hes loaded, fast and sharp. They mentioned he stayed in Vegas off season and worked out, he’s a player. Hague looked awesome on that goal, Pirri is on the team. Carrier never stops !! Sparks looked great, but wasn’t challenged much. We have a deep team, Colorado had no answer. Let’s keep the progress, Go Knights !!!
Cathy McGowen
Preseason is looking like a slow start, getting back into the swing of things regular season game. The guys having to learn each others moves, chatter and drinking from the right sports bottle kind of 1st few games sort of routine. Kinda different this time around and I like it❗☘