DENVER — When the moment arrived, Andrew Agozzino was prepared — big right fist pump, coupled using a slide on his knee and also a bit yell.
This target celebration proved to be a time in the making.
Agozzino scored his first NHL goal and added an assist, Semyon Varlamov stopped 40 shots for his second shutout of the season along with the Colorado Avalanche finished a six-game home slide by beating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 on Monday night.
“Just pure excitement,” Agozzino said. “It’s special and hard to put into words. There was plenty emotion after I saw it move in. ”
The 28-year-old Agozzino was recalled Sunday by Colorado of the AHL, where he led the Eagles with 22 goals and 28 assists. In his 11th NHL match — and since April 9, 2016 — Agozzino pushed a shot beyond Malcolm Subban away a pass from captain Gabriel Landeskog. It gave Colorado a 2-0 advantage in the second period. The help marked the 400th career stage for Landeskog.
A landmark goal, really.
Agozzino also happened to be the earliest Avalanche skater in the ice at the time of his initial goal. For what he will do with the puck, nicely , he might give it to his father. Or keep it.
“He’ll be fighting with ” cracked Agozzino.
Tyson Jost and Matt Calvert also scored as the Avalanche won their first match at the Pepsi Center since Jan. 19.
Varlamov was brilliant through the night, with very little traffic viewing his eyesight. He had 15 saves in the next phase.
“It wasn’t like a tough game in which there are a lot of screens in front and you are able to ’t find anything,” Varlamov explained. “The guys did a huge job. I saw all the shots. ”
Subban had 35 saves to get a Golden Knights team that’s now dropped eight of the past 11 games. Subban started back-to-back games for the very first time with Vegas preferring to break Marc-Andre Fleury.
“Their goaltender put up a ideal performance tonight and that’therefore what it took,” Subban said of his counterpart. “It’s hard to lose games such as this, took a full 60-minute work and I needed to create a couple more saves tonight. Got move forward and to fix some errors. ”
Vegas coach Gerard Gallant was expecting his staff can ride the momentum out of a 5-1 win over Nashville another night. It didn’t happen.
“Not much you can really do. We played a very good game tonight,” Gallant explained. “It was a 3-0 match but it should’ve turned into a 6-5 game. The goalies were outstanding. ”
Calvert gave Colorado a three-goal pillow with 13:07 remaining. The play was reviewed when it appeared he knocked it in with his own glove. But the officials ruled that he last powered in the puck with his stick after it struck his glove.
Early in the initial stage, Jost stole the puck down low early and forced a nifty spin move to score his first goal since Jan. 2. The young center was in this a scoring funk that he was temporarily sent to the minors for some more work. Jost celebrated his goal in style by dropping to a knee and then also skating toward the boards.
It hasn’t exactly been home-sweet-home for the Avalanche this season using an 11-12-5 mark. This a dominant revealing a season past when their 28 house wins matched the franchise record set by the 2000-01 Stanley Cup championship squad.
“It’s not like people go out there and also don’t need to play at house,” defenseman Nikita Zadorov explained. “We’re trying. ”
NOTES: Vegas LW Tomas Nosek returned after not playing in the previous 3 games. … Avalanche F Colin Wilson (upper body) skated with the team Monday and could soon be available. … D Ian Cole (upper body) remains sidelined forever. … Landeskog combines Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov as the only members of their 2011 NHL draft class to get to the 400-point plateau. … Agozzino helped on Calvert’s target. This was his fourth NHL assistance. … The shutout was No. 25 in Varlamov’s career. … Colorado has become 0 for 26 to the power play over the previous nine games.
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