Recap: Avalanche drop opening game in Vegas 8-4

1 week ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images


A Mikko Rantanen hat trick was spoiled by a lot of dumb play. The long wait is finally over as the Colorado Avalanche dropped the puck for the 2024-25 at the home of the Vegas Golden Knights. Both teams are looking to get back to Stanley Cup glory after faltering in the postseason last spring. After a slow first period both team erupted for goals but Vegas got the better end of the scoring and walked away with a 8-4 victory.
The Game
It was a measured start to begin this game but the Avalanche controlled most of the play. Mikko Rantanen broke through first for the Avalanche on a great shot high in the slot at 10:28. The visitors couldn’t hold the momentum, however, which would be a theme for the night.
Victor Oloffson tied the game just 28 seconds later off of a sharp angle shot at the goal line. Before the period would end Vegas added two more goals taking advantage of lax defensive zone coverage from the top line. Ivan Barbashev cashed in at 18:32 and then Mark Stone just 25 seconds later to put Vegas up 3-1 after 20 minutes of play.
To start the second frame the Avalanche started crawling back into the game and then Nathan MacKinnon drew a power play on which Rantanen scored his second goal of the night at 4:15. But, again, the momentum didn’t last long as Zach Whitecloud took advantage of more bad coverage on a line change and scored at 5:49.
The Avalanche would have one more highlight in the period with Casey Mittelstadt scoring at the net front at 17:32. Thirty-seconds later Miles Wood took a bad penalty and the Golden Knights score on their power play from Oloffson again just before the period expired. With a 5-3 score Vegas had a commanding lead.
For the third period the Avalanche tried to generate a spark with Justus Annunen in net. Hope didn’t last long after it appeared Vegas quickly got their sixth goal but it was waived off by a high sticking penalty just before the puck went in. The Avalanche then went on the power play capitalized seven minutes into the period just after the penalty expired as Rantanen scored his third goal of the evening for a hat trick at 6:59.
Not to break out of character, the Avalanche decided to throw away any momentum yet again as Devon Toews committed a four-minute high sticking infraction and Vegas scored five seconds into their power play at 8:29 when the puck bounced off of Stone’s arm and Vegas was back to a 6-4 lead.
The seventh Vegas goal was certainly the dagger when Barbashev danced around Sam Girard and fired off an incredible backhand shot at 13:53. The game was pretty much over at that point so Jared Bednar pulled Annunen with over five minutes left in favor of the extra attacker. Maybe it was a small victory to not give up a goal for four minutes but Brett Howden finally found the back of the net and Vegas arrived at the 8-4 final score to pick up their first win on the season.

Takeaways
This game was close at times despite the final score. The Avalanche got the critical first goal and an impressive hat trick from Mikko Rantanen but continuously gave away any momentum with bad play and dumb decisions. Four times after getting back into the game not more than two minutes later Colorado undermined their own success. It is very difficult to win a game on the road that way.
Mistakes and sloppiness are expected early in the season but the same types of errors and weaknesses are carrying over from last season. The goaltending overall wasn’t good enough as Georgiev only lasted two period and gave up five goals on 16 shots. Team defense wasn’t good enough either with multiple breakdowns from Colorado’s top players. These problems go hand-in-hand and look an awful lot like the 2023-24 Avalanche.
The bright spot was the NHL debut for Calum Ritchie, Ivan Ivan and (regular season debut) Nikolai Kovalenko. All three had their mistakes but also a lot of encouraging moments as they brought energy and generated offensive pressure. It remains to be seen the commitment level to these three players but this loss wasn’t because of youth and inexperience in the lineup.
Upcoming
The Avalanche participate in their home opener at Ball Arena in search of their first win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7 p.m. MT on Saturday, October 12th. ...

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