Golden Knights' Schmid stellar night not enough to beat Avalanche

DENVER -- The Vegas Golden Knights went for the clean sweep, but fell short in the shootout to the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 on Tuesday at Ball Arena. 

Former Boston Bruin forward, Charlie Coyle scored the winner during the SO, going top-shelf over the glove of goaltender Akira Schmid, who made his second starting appearance as a Golden Knight. Including their Nov. 27 meeting, this is back-to-back times where the two teams needed more than 60 minutes to determine a final outcome.

Yet, Vegas was able to find a bright spot tonight because they managed to secure home ice for the first round of the playoffs after earning their 103th point. Now ahead by six points over the LA Kings, they're still in need of winning the Pacific Division to secure home ice for at least the first two rounds.

"We did a good job," Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Tonight was probably the game we're the least on our game and give credit to Colorado for that. Tail end of the road trip, some guys looked like they were spent a little bit more than others, but goaltender gave us every chance to win... Being able to get a point, get right down to the wire is certainly some positives there." 

Another positive is Schmid and his played phenomenal in the crease. With 34 saves and a .944 SV%, the Swiss netminder made big time saves throughout the night on Colorado’s nuclear lineup. 

"I felt pretty good," Schmid said. "These are the games you want to play, dream of as a kid. I just like playing those games."

"I thought he was our best player tonight," Cassidy said. "It's good for him. He's here to try to earn his way back into the NHL. That's what he wants. One door closed, another one opened, Sammy gets hurt, and he gets his chance." 

In the absence of forwards Jack Eichel (upper-body injury) and Tomáš Hertl (shoulder) and defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Nicolas Hague (illness), the Golden Knights plan to keep Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar in check is to keep them to sides of the ice and not let their team settle in the offensive zone for too long.

“They’re a solid team,” Cassidy said. “We know them well enough how their style of play is and how to slow them down. They’re really, really good in the o-zone. They have a good rush game, but the o-zone is where I think they do a lot of damage.

The pair were able to generate some shots during the opening period, but Vegas neutralized their threat and limit the amount of time spent in their own zone. 

During Colorado’s first power play, the Golden Knights managed to draw first blood following a short-handed goal by forward William Karlsson (8) with the assist by fellow Golden Misfit Reilly Smith (24). 

While Makar was holding the puck from the high slot, Smith swiped the puck away, starting the chance. Smith rushed up the ice with Karlsson to his right, eventually lining a pass to set up Karlsson to go top-shelf glove side of Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood. 

Less than a minute into the second period, defensemen Brayden McNabb snapped home his fifth goal from the point to extend the Golden Knights lead.

The Avalanche, however, found their mojo and were able to tie the game before the end of the second period. 

After a brief video review, Valeri Nichushkin was awarded his 20th goal of the season while on the powerplay. On the goal, Schmid gloved the puck while on his back and looked to make the save, but it was deemed that the puck crossed the goal line while on the save attempt. 

Colorado forward Jimmy Vesey (5) scored the tying goal with under three minutes remaining in the period.   

Outshooting the Golden Knights 19-4 in the period, the Avalanche completely dominated because they were able to take advantage of turnovers and poor puck possession by Vegas while in the offensive zone. It was only the second time that Vegas was held to 12 or fewer shots through the first two periods.

Vegas was able to get back to their working style of play of limiting space inside the slot and putting a body on a shooter defensively, but weren't able to light the lamp during the third period.

A big reason for their lack of scoring is because of the night Wedgewood had, who stopped Vegas’ 19 shots and finished with a .905 SV%. The total shots tonight were 36-21, in favor of Colorado. 

In response to Wedgewood's performance, the Golden Knights were blanked (0/4) on the power play. Vegas, ranked as one of the best PP units in the NHL, went 0-8 on the man advantage while on the road trip. 

"Obviously, we would like to get the win here tonight." Schmid said. "Make the gap a little bit bigger too, but I think we did a great job... I think we can be proud of ourselves, what we did on this road trip." 

Golden Knights will look to return to the win column at T-Mobile Arena against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and the Nashville Predators at on Saturday at 7 p.m.

"We're getting down to the final five games, and we want to be playing at our best," McNabb said. "There's always things we can clean up... we'll get back to it and try to correct stuff, and make sure we're playing our best hockey come game one."