3 takeaways: Knights go toe-to-toe with Avalanche, fall short in shootout

The Golden Knights played 65 minutes of game time, plus a shootout, in what was the game of the year at T-Mobile Arena against the best team in the NHL. They didn’t trail at any point.

They still lost.

That’s a testament to how good the Colorado Avalanche are.

The short-handed Knights gave the league-leading Avalanche their best shot in the first game out of the Christmas break, but lost 6-5 on Saturday night.

“I thought it was an entertaining game if you’re just a fan of the game,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said.

The Knights (17-8-11) led by two goals twice, including a 4-2 edge heading into the third period thanks to two goals in 29 seconds from defenseman Ben Hutton and center Brett Howden.

But the Avalanche (28-2-7) dominated the third period by outshooting the Knights 16-6 and tied the game 4-4 with goals from right wing Martin Necas and center Nathan MacKinnon.

“That was two good teams going at it tonight,” Hutton said. “Good hockey game. Obviously some goals were scored. Big plays.”

Fourth-line center Colton Sissons gave the Knights a 5-4 lead with four minutes remaining with a strong drive to the middle and a backhand finish.

But with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker, Colorado left wing Artturi Lehkonen scored a one-timer with 1:57 remaining to tie it once again.

“They were obviously going to have a push in the third. They were down by two,” Howden said. “A lot of it is on us just not getting the job done.”

Necas scored twice, and MacKinnon — the NHL’s goal leader — scored his 31st and added two assists to ensure the Avalanche earned a point for the 35th time in 37 games.

“They’ve got some firepower over there,” Hutton said.

Necas scored in the second round of the shootout, and MacKinnon scored the eventual shootout winner in the fourth.

Alexander Holtz, who had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game with the Knights, fired wide on his fourth-round look that would’ve kept the game going.

Ivan Barbashev scored, and goaltender Carter Hart finished with 34 saves as the Knights lost their league-leading 11th game that required extra time and dropped to 1-5 in shootouts.

“A lot of that is on us just not getting the job done,” Howden said.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Holtz’s coming out party

Holtz worked his way onto an NHL roster spot during training camp by doing the little things correctly. Board battles, winning puck battles.

Those came at the sacrifice of not scoring as much.

He broke through in a big way with his first goal of the season, a backdoor tap-in off a cross-ice pass from Noah Hanifin, then added the primary assist on Hutton’s goal.

It was Holtz’s first multipoint game since he was a member of the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 5, 2024.

“He had a great game tonight,” Howden said. “Looked like the puck was following him, for sure. He had a lot of good looks. Happy for him.”

Cassidy said the message to Holtz was find a way to impact the game with his skill set. It wasn’t consistent last year. It’s slowly getting there in Cassidy’s view.

“He’s just being harder on pucks,” Cassidy said. “We’ll keep working on other parts of his game, but he’s earning the trust of his teammates and the staff. Good for him.”

2. Fortuitous bounces for Colorado

The Knights looked to seize control after Barbashev scored 34 seconds into the second period for a 2-0 lead.

Colorado clawed back into it courtesy of some friendly pucks.

Defenseman Sam Girard’s centering pass bounced off Lehkonen and over Hart’s left shoulder at 5:19.

Necas scored his first at 10:27 to tie it 2-2 when his shot bounced off Kaedan Korczak’s skate and past Hart. His second goal, cutting it to 4-3, also appeared to deflect off Korczak’s stick and take a weird trajectory over Hart’s left shoulder.

“They had a couple fortunate bounces, but we were still in a spot to win the game,” Howden said.

3. Game of the year

The Knights went toe-to-toe with the highest-scoring team, the best defensive team and one of the best goaltenders in the league.

They put five goals past Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood, a season high for the league’s leader in goals-against average, and did so without Jack Eichel (lower body), Shea Theodore (upper body) or William Karlsson (lower body).

Hart responded with crucial saves, especially in the second period, to give his team a chance. MacKinnon had a game-high nine shots on goal.

The Avalanche more than doubled the Knights in shot attempts (100-46), and outshot them 47-14 in the third period and overtime.

Yet, the Knights still had a chance to win with four minutes remaining.

“They’re clearly a better team than we are right now. You can see that with their record and their push,” Cassidy said. “But I also feel like we’re walking out here tonight, a couple things change, and we get the two points. It’s not like I’m going home thinking, ‘We can’t compete with the Colorado Avalanche.’ We needed a few things along the way to go our way.

“I think everyone is in agreement Colorado is the class of the league right now. How far are we behind on that? That’s a tough one to tell right now, because all these overtime losses, if you just have a normal overtime, you’re probably right there. That’s the part that’s tricky to evaluate.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.