Vegas improves to 8-1-0 after thumping Avs
Oscar Dansk got his third win in his third career game, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 7-0 on Friday to extend the best start ever by an NHL expansion team.
The Golden Knights improved to 8-1-0. They’ve won five straight, matching the longest winning streak ever by a team in its inaugural season, joining the New York Rangers (1926-27) and Edmonton Oilers (197980), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Dansk stopped 32 shots in his second career start. The 23-year-old has been thrust into action after injuries to starter Marc-Andre Fleury and backup Malcolm Subban and has allowed three goals on 74 shots — a .960 save percentage.
James Neal got his seventh goal, and David Perron, Oscar Lindberg, Cody Eakin, Jonathan Marchessault, Erik Haula and William carrier also scored. Nate Schmidt had two assists. Jesper Bratt and Drew Stafford scored in the shootout, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 Friday night after blowing a two-goal lead in the final 1:15 of regulation. Stafford kept the Devils in it by netting a backhand on their third shootout chance and then Bratt totally faked out Mike Condon on the fourth attempt for the game-winner. Tom Pyatt had scored for Ottawa on its second attempt. Keith Kinkaid stopped Mike Hoffman on the Senators’ last try to give the Devils their seventh win in nine games. Dmitri Jaskin scored his first goal of the season and Brayden Schenn added the game-winner, giving St. Louis a victory over Carolina. It was the second straight win for the Blues, who are 3-0 at home and return there Saturday against Columbus. St. Louis goalie Carter Hutton (3-0) stopped 25 shots.
Pekka Rinne made 43 saves and Nashville killed off six power plays, helping the Predators edge Chicago. Calle Jarnkrok and Craig Smith scored in the second period for the Predators, who were coming off consecutive losses to Calgary and the New York Rangers. Nashville also lost 2-1 to Chicago in overtime in their first meeting of the season on Oct. 14. Corey Crawford had 28 stops for Chicago, but the Blackhawks lost for the fourth time in five games. Coach Joel Quenneville tweaked his lines in search of more offense and Chicago generated plenty of opportunities, but couldn’t finish with Rinne on top of his game in net.
The New Jersey Devils announced a partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters, one of four teams in the fledgling National Women’s Hockey League. The Devils will provide their practice facility for home games in Newark, assist with marketing and host a doubleheader with the Riveters on Saturday at the Prudential Center. The Devils are the first NHL team to officially extend support to the NWHL, which has teams in Boston; Buffalo, New York; and Stamford, Connecticut.