Avalanche rally, top Golden Knights in shootout

DENVER -- Valeri Nichushkin and Jimmy Vesey scored in the second period for the Colorado Avalanche, who rallied for a 3-2 shootout win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Charlie Coyle had two assists, and Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his home point streak to 26 games (16 goals, 27 assists) for the Avalanche (48-27-4), who have won three of their past five. Scott Wedgewood made 19 saves.

Colorado is six points behind the Dallas Stars, who lost 6-5 in overtime against the Vancouver Canucks earlier Tuesday, for second place in the Central Division. Dallas has a game in hand.

“I liked the way we fought back in this one and sort of stuck with it and [were] pretty resilient,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I think you're running into teams that kind of know where they are, and they're trying to get through it healthy and waiting for playoff time.”

William Karlsson and Brayden McNabb scored for the Golden Knights (47-22-9), who had won two straight and sit six points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings atop the Pacific Division. Akira Schmid made 34 saves.

“Listen, every point matters, especially this time of the year,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “After the second period, we talked a bit about that. Like, 'listen, [you're] tired, end of the trip, but you got to help us through the period, right? Give us 30 seconds if you don't have a full gas tank. Whatever it is.' And I thought we did a good job with that, and we were able to get the point [and we're] right there for the extra one, right?”

Karlsson scored short-handed to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 11:10 of the first period. He finished a 2-on-1 with a wrist shot from the right face-off dot after Cale Makar turned the puck over in the offensive zone.

“We got a lead, so sometimes you sit back,” Cassidy said. “The second period, we didn't do enough to extend the lead, and I thought we turned down some opportunities to shoot. End up chasing back into our end a lot.”

McNabb pushed it to 2-0 just 40 seconds into the second period with a snap shot from the point that found its way through traffic.

“When they go in, it's fun. I wish we could have got the win while doing it,” McNabb said. “We're getting down to the final five games and we want to be playing at our best. There's always things we can clean up, and there still is today.

“We'll get back to it and try and correct stuff and make sure we're playing our best hockey come Game 1.”

Nichsuhkin cut it to 2-1 at 9:46 with a power-play goal, stuffing in a backhand during a goalmouth scramble that initially appeared to be stopped by Schmid’s glove but was deemed over the goal line after video review.

“Sometimes it doesn't go your way to start. You go down a few goals. It's all about what you do from that point on,” Coyle said. “Maybe it's a penalty kill. Maybe we go out and get a big power-play goal and then that next line feeds off of that and creates momentum, and we kind of clawed our way back in the game that way.”

Vesey tied it 2-2 when he slammed home the rebound of Coyle’s initial shot at 17:08 of the second. It was his first goal in his seventh game with the Avalanche after he was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on March 1.

“I wouldn't want to say I played for the Avalanche and didn't score. So, always nice to get on the score sheet, but it's nice for me just to be able to contribute to the team,” Vesey said. “I'm just trying to stay ready, and if my number's called, be able to contribute. There's been ups and downs, but I thought tonight was an up, for sure.”

Coyle scored the lone goal in the shootout.

“I really don't like them, to be honest. It's a high-pressure situation,” Coyle said. “Sometimes it's a spur-of-the moment thing. Sometimes you have a couple moves going in, but sometimes you get a little lucky and it finds the back.”

NOTES: Vegas forward Jack Eichel was held out of the game and is day to day with an upper-body injury. “We'll see where he's at when we get back home,” Cassidy said. … Vegas defensemen Nicolas Hague and Alex Pietrangelo also didn’t play due to illness. "A couple other guys were sick, but they played, almost because we had to. Little [bug] going through the room a little bit,” Cassidy said. … Colorado forward Ross Colton didn’t play and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … With his assist, MacKinnon tied Joe Sakic (1,015) for the most points for the franchise since the Avalanche relocated from Quebec. … The Avalanche reached the 100-point mark for the fourth consecutive season.