*Photo from USA Today*
The scene is a beautiful Lake Tahoe, right at the California/Nevada state line. The first period, with the sun shine, looked wonderful, but not to skate on. All of a sudden, the game was postponed. Over 8 hours postponed, to be exact. 10 hours and 37 minutes after puck drop, the Colorado Avalanche topped the Vegas Golden Knights by a 3-2 score, in the first of two outdoor games on Lake Tahoe by the NHL.
The delay was due to the sun shining, lack of cloud cover, and unseasonably warm temperatures, according to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Those factors can melt the ice at Lake Tahoe, and players were falling and having a hard time dealing with the ice during the first period. That, due to the forecast for the rest of the day, saw the NHL push the start of the second period all the way to midnight eastern time, or 9:00 PM Lake Tahoe time.
Samuel Girard opened the scoring for the Avalanche in the first period, sending one into the net at the 2:58 mark to give Colorado an early lead. In the second period, after the long delay, Alec Martinez got Vegas on the board with his first goal of the season, but Nathan MacKinnon countered for the Avalanche shortly after, making it 2-1 Colorado after two periods. In the 3rd, Devon Toews lengthened the Colorado lead to 3-1. Later, Alex Tuch brought it to 3-2, but Vegas couldn't muster another goal.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of the atmosphere on Lake Tahoe that "The setting was incredible, it was a beautiful day here, almost too nice I guess because we get delayed, but the evening was fun too, playing in under lights was a great situation. I wish we could have had fans here today, but there was something special about just coming and just having the two teams here. It was a quiet setting; it was a beautiful setting and to just kind of be able to go play and have no distractions of friends and family and everyone here. We were able to relax and enjoy the moment, enjoy the game and being in a quiet setting like that."
Philipp Grubauer started in net for the Avalanche, getting the win. Grubauer stopped 27 of 29 shots that came his way, improving his record to 8-3-0 on the season. The Avalanche as a whole improved to 9-4-1 with the win against the Golden Knights, good for 3rd place in the NHL's West Division. This was also the first outdoor win for the Avalanche in their 3rd outdoor game.
Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said of playing on Lake Tahoe that "Luckily, we were able to get it done here tonight and the ice was great, and I thought we came out and played a pretty solid game. I think the overall experience, it was amazing, and I think it's a memory of a lifetime. And, finally we broke the curse of these outdoor games and we were able to win one, so it makes it a lot more special."
Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury started and took the loss for the Golden Knights, stopping 36 shots out of the 39 that came his way. This was the first outdoor game played by Vegas in their young history, but they should have more on the way. Fleury's record fell to 7-2-0 with the loss, while Vegas dropped to 10-4-1, second in the West Division.
Despite the loss, Vegas coach Peter Deboer thought the team adjusted and played better after the stoppage. Deboer said that "I thought we reset and played two pretty hard periods tonight. We were chasing the game right from the drop of the puck."
The two teams meet again Monday night in Colorado, where Fleury and Grubauer are expected to be the goalies again.
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