Knights held scoreless again, this time at home against Avs

For the second time in as many games, the Vegas Golden Knights failed to put up a goal as they lost 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday, Feb. 16 inside the T-Mobile Arena.

With this loss, Vegas falls to second place in the Pacific Division and now sit three points behind the Calgary Flames.

This is the first time this season that the Knights have been shutout on their home ice. It’s also the first time this year that Vegas has been shutout in back-to-back games.

The next game for the Golden Knights will take place Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. as they welcome the Los Angeles Kings to T-Mobile Arena.

The game can be seen on AT&T Sportsnet in Las Vegas.

Wednesday night marked the highly-anticipated debut of Jack Eichel who was recovering from artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck that he had Nov. 12.

It also marked the first time that Eichel had been in an NHL game since March 7, 2021.

“I thought he worked hard,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. “He did a good job, you saw flashes of what he’s going to be able to do for us. He made some really good plays.”

Eichel picked up the first two Vegas penalties. The first penalty for interference and the second penalty for high-sticking.

Along with the penalties, Eichel also registered his first shot on goal as a Vegas Golden Knight and registered a total of 17:32 time on ice.

“Honestly, I was having a pretty fun time out there,” Eichel said. “There’s some stuff to build on, but it’s a process and I know it’s going to get better. I didn’t expect it to be perfect tonight.”

The Vegas crowd gave Eichel a warm welcome during warmups and the starting lineup.

Both teams brought an abundance of energy and intensity especially through the first two periods. Both had breakaway chances that could have ended in goals but were stopped by the blockers of goalies Laurent Brossoit and Darcy Kuemper.

Colorado set the tone early in the third period by scoring the game’s first goal off the stick of left-wing Gabriel Landeskog only 41 seconds into the third.

Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen added the insurance goal via a power play being served by defenseman Alex Pietrangelo with 4:15 left in regulation.