Golden Knights top Avs in division showdown, win 10th straight
Anthem singer Carnell Johnson held the final notes of “The Star-Spangled Banner” a little longer than usual Wednesday.
Public-address announcer Bruce Cusick put an extra emphasis on the last names when he revealed the starting lineups for the announced crowd of 3,950 at T-Mobile Arena.
And the Golden Knights’ stars also rose to the occasion in the most important game of the season.
Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone each finished with three points, and the Knights extended their franchise-record winning streak to 10 games with a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
“We’ve still got a lot of business to take care of over the last two weeks,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “But sets us up where I think our destiny’s in our own hands at least, which is what you want heading into the last two weeks of the season.”
The Knights (35-11-2, 72 points) inched closer to their third division title in four seasons and have a six-point cushion in the West Division over the Avalanche (31-12-4, 66 points), who have a game in hand. Minnesota also lost Wednesday and trails the Knights by seven points with eight games remaining.
Pacioretty scored twice to push his points streak to nine games and leads the Knights with 24 goals. He also picked up his 300th career assist in the second period when Stone banked the puck off the back of Avalanche goalie Devan Dubnyk from behind the goal line for a 3-1 advantage.
William Karlsson scored the fastest goal to start a game in franchise history to ignite the Knights, who have won four of seven from Colorado.
The teams wrap up the season series May 10 at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’re in a good position right now; however, we know we have to play better when they have their full lineup,” Pacioretty said. “That being said, we’re in a good spot here and our goal now is to try to jell and get even better here in these final eight games.”
Marc-Andre Fleury remained in the chase for the Vezina Trophy with his fourth straight win and No. 488 overall. He is one victory from tying Roberto Luongo for third all time.
Fleury finished with 35 stops, including one in the first period when he reached behind his back to swat away a puck. He also made a diving poke-check to thwart Liam O’Brien in the first period.
Defensemen Devon Toews and Ryan Graves scored for the Avalanche, who went 0-for-4 on the power play and have lost three straight.
Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to 15 games.
“I think at 1-1, if (Fleury) doesn’t make some key saves, doesn’t allow us to stay there, I thought he made some key stops on the penalty kill,” Stone said. “He’s one of the main reasons why we went 4-for-4 on the kill.”
Pacioretty put the Knights ahead 2-1 midway through the second period when his long shot on a power play slipped by Dubnyk. He finished off a two-on-one with Stone for an insurance goal early in the third period for a 4-2 advantage.
Jonathan Marchessault added an empty-net goal.
“Getting the two points and creating a little bit of separation is huge for us,” Stone said. “They had some key guys out of the lineup, and we’re missing some guys, too. But we dug in, (Fleury) made some big saves and we got some timely goals.”
The Knights welcomed back winger Reilly Smith after he missed the past three games and forward Keegan Kolesar, who hadn’t played since April 11. Forwards Tomas Nosek and Nicolas Roy were scratched with undisclosed injuries.
Karlsson wasted no time landing the first blow shortly after winning the opening faceoff when Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard couldn’t control the puck and Karlsson tracked it down near the offensive blue line.
Karlsson’s backhand beat Dubnyk 10 seconds in to break his own franchise record for the fastest goal to start a game. The previous mark was 14 seconds set Nov. 24, 2018, against San Jose.
“Obviously, that’s a pretty good start,” Karlsson said. “It doesn’t get better than that.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
