In Las Vegas, Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves and the Colorado Avalanche shut out the Golden Knights, 2-0, on Wednesday night.
“I felt good, but I think a lot of that was the guys in front of me were really committed to defensive hockey,” Kuemper said. “It was a 0-0 game going into the third there. It looked like it might be a one-goal game. Guys did a great job of boxing out, letting me see it and staying on the D-side of pucks. When they allow me to see it, it makes my job a lot easier.”
The game was scoreless until Gabriel Landeskog scored with 41 seconds gone in the third period to give the Avs a 1-0 lead.
“We knew it was going to be a tight game,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “You’ve got two real good teams. We got shut out, so you’re never happy. … We had some good looks. You have to give their goalie some credit.”
Mikko Rantanen scored off the power play in the 16th minute of the frame for a 2-0 lead.
“First and second period, we still had some chances,” Rantanen said. “[Landeskog] hit the post and we had a couple of other ones where we had a really good chance. We were just sticking with it, and the big key for us is defense first, so I think that’s what we did. We just stayed with it.”
Colorado improved to 35-9-4.
“I thought [Kuemper] was solid, start to finish,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “Made some big saves for us. Was fighting to make sure he could see the puck. … You have to make the perfect shot to beat him right now.”
Jack Eichel made his debut for the Golden Knights.
“I don’t think you want to take two penalties and be on the ice for their goal,” Eichel said. “But I think there was some stuff to build on. Obviously, they’re a really good team. You get matched up against a pretty good line for part of the game. So first game in 11 months, it’s good to just get back doing it.”
Vegas dropped to 28-18-3.
Laurent Brossoit made 23 saves in the Knights loss.
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