Avs-Golden Knights Instant Reaction: Vegas falls on Nevada Day in 4-2 loss to Colorado

Halloween, Nevada Day, a weird matinee game – whatever you want to call it, the Colorado Avalanche took advantage of a messy Vegas Golden Knights team, winning 4-2 on the first night of their back-to-back.

In a game that started sloppily for both teams, the Avalanche took it and ran. Both teams made mistakes, but the Avs capitalized more, which is one of the largest positives to take out of tonight’s game (the other being Brent Burns earning his first goal as a member of the Avs, woohoo!).

Martin Necas is good at hockey

The Avalanche announced Thursday morning that they signed their star trade acquisition from last season, Martin Necas, to an 8-year, $11.5M AAV deal.

He started this game earning every bit of the contract that won’t kick in until the 2026-27 season. On the first shift of the game, Necas puts away a pass that Cale Makar reads through a very narrow lane in front of the net.

This is the expectation, right? If he’s not scoring every night, he should be contributing. With a contract this large, certain expectations come along with it, and this is one of them: Necas is expected to be a point-per-game player. Full stop.

He did that today with three points and gave a messy Avs team the push they needed to lead for the entirety of this game.

Another solid night for the penalty kill

The NHL media site has Vegas’ power play opportunities at 0/6 (traditional 5-on-4).

Vegas’ lone goal of the night was scored during a 4-on-3 opportunity, and was arguably a goal I’d say Scott Wedgewood wants back.

But, this isn’t a surprise. Through 12 games so far, the Avs have proved to be just as strong on the defensive side of the puck as they are offensively, and that sentiment stretches past generational talent Cale Makar. Guys like Devon Toews, Parker Kelly, and Jack Drury —especially the latter two, who are forces when it comes to blocked shots — allow the team to breathe just that much easier, knowing they’re not allowing much in terms of quality shot volume.

Knowing they were able to do this against the 10th-best power play team in the league is just a reassuring point that this is currently one of the best aspects of the team this season.

Avs Postgame Pod