Martin Necas had a goal and two assists and Cale Makar added a goal and an assist to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Brock Nelson and Brent Burns also scored goals for Colorado, which moved into a tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the NHL points lead with 18. Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves en route to his league-leading seventh win of the season.
Tomas Hertl and Mitch Marner each had a goal and an assist for Vegas, which suffered just its second regulation loss of the season and first at home. Carl Lindbom, making his second career NHL start, finished with 22 saves.
Necas, who signed an eight-year, $92 million contract extension through 2034 with the Avalanche on Thursday, celebrated by scoring on the first shot of the game, one-timing a Makar crossing pass from the left circle for his eighth goal. The assist extended Makar’s point streak to six games.
The Avalanche extended the lead to 2-0 early in the second period when Nelson took an outlet pass from Jack Drury, split a pair of Vegas defensemen and then fired a wrist shot through Lindbom’s pads for his third goal.
Vegas cut the lead to 2-1 early in the third period on Hertl’s 4-on-3 power-play goal. Hertl took a pass from Shea Theodore in front of the blue paint and then spun around jammed a shot under Wedgewood’s right pad for his fifth goal.
Burns, trailing the play, made it 3-1 with 9:49 remaining when he received a pass from Necas in the high slot and roofed a wrist shot past Lindbom’s glove side for the 262nd goal of his career and first with the Avalanche.
The Golden Knights closed to within a goal less than two minutes later when Marner’s pass for Hertl in the low slot deflected off the stick of Burns and under the crossbar.
Vegas pulled Lindbom for an extra attacker with 1:50 to go and Makar sealed the win just 12 seconds later with a long empty-netter from the slot in front of his own net, his fourth goal of the season.
