Martin Necas, penalty kill help Avalanche prevail against Vegas

LAS VEGAS — The Colorado Avalanche decided to live dangerously in Sin City, but they lived to tell the tale.

Martin Necas had a goal and two assists, Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves, and the penalty kill had a huge day as the Avs defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-2, on Friday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.

One day after signing an eight-year, $92 million contract, Necas scored on the first shift of the game. Devon Toews passed on an open shot from the left point, opting to send the puck across to his partner Cale Makar instead. Makar found Necas near the left faceoff circle for a one-timer just 41 seconds into this contest.

“It was great, honestly,” Necas said. “I mean, nothing really changed in terms of my game, but it was a really nice start. … It was two really good teams going at it. Our PK was fantastic. (Wedgewood) was great.”

It was Necas’ eighth goal of the season. Necas now has 19 goals and 44 points in 42 regular-season games with the Avalanche since arriving from the Carolina Hurricanes in a late January blockbuster trade for Mikko Rantanen.

The Avalanche penalty kill was the No. 1 star of this contest. Colorado took six penalties, including four in the first 40 minutes. There were three in the second period and three infractions by go-to penalty killers.

It didn’t matter. The Avs allowed four total shots on goal across the four penalties — three of which came on the fourth opportunity. There was one passing sequence that could have led to a Vegas goal with Wedgewood down and out of position, but the Golden Knights didn’t get a shot off.

Vegas came into this game with 10 power-play goals and a 27.0% conversion rate. Pavel Dorofeyev has a league-leading five extra-man goals. He did not have a shot attempt in 6:07 of power-play ice time in this game.

“We obviously pre-scouted them a little bit,” Wedgewood said. “We know they have two elite passers (Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner) and a good shooter in Dorofeyev. … It was exactly what we thought they were going to do, which was kind of a benefit.”

Brock Nelson made it a 2-0 lead early in the second period and just seconds after another strong penalty kill. The Vegas power play began with a Parker Kelly breakaway off the faceoff. It ended with Nelson slipping behind the Knights’ defense. Jack Drury found him, and Nelson beat Vegas goalie Carl Lindbom, who was making his second career NHL start, at 4:32 of the second.

Colorado’s penalty troubles continued early in the third period, and eventually Vegas was able to find one. Brent Burns and Toews both went to the box, then Dorofeyev joined them to make it a 4-on-3 for the home side.

Tomas Hertl collected the puck with his back to Wedgewood near the right post, and was able to twist around and tuck it into the net near the left post at 2:51 of the third.

Burns took two penalties in this game, but he made up for it with a huge goal midway through the third period. Necas intercepted the puck in the slot in front of Wedgewood and then became a one-man breakout. He skated the puck into the offensive zone, including a full 360-degree spin at one point, then found Burns as the trailer on the rush.

“He’s such a special player,” Burns said of Necas. “His speed can back off a lot of D. It’s funny how it worked out. In the first period, we had a similar play and I didn’t jump in, and he let me know about it.

“It was good. I said, ‘Big dummy just had to learn his lesson.’ It was a great play by him, and it was nice to see it go in.”

It was Burns’ first goal in an Avalanche uniform. It was also career point No. 916, which gives him one more than legendary defenseman Bobby Orr. He’s officially 11th all time among defensemen in career points, though Burns did collect some of those as a forward earlier in his career.

Mitch Marner pulled Vegas back within a goal again with 7:59 remaining. Marner threw the puck at the net from the right corner. Hertl was there in front, but the puck deflected off Burns’ stick and into the net, so Marner was credited with the tally.

Makar added a long-range empty-netter to put this one away. He has 17 points, which is six more than the next defenseman in the NHL. He’s also one assist shy of the league lead, regardless of position.

The Avalanche led this game for more than 59 minutes, but still finished with 63.03% of the expected goals at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick. That was quite impressive, considering the competition.

“It was another good game to sort of measure ourselves against one of the top teams in the league,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought we handled ourselves pretty well.”

Footnotes

Gavin Brindley left this game after one shift in the second period and did not return. He was cutting to the middle of the ice to shoot when Ivan Barbashev caught him in the side of the head with his biceps. Bednar did not have an update after the game. … Mackenzie Blackwood dressed for this game as the backup to Wedgewood. He is expected to make his first start of the season Saturday afternoon against his former club, the San Jose Sharks, at SAP Center.