Saturday’s outdoor game – which ended Sunday morning – between the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights in Lake Tahoe was unlike anything the sport has seen before. That’s because there was a delay of almost nine hours due to the sun creating unsafe ice conditions earlier in the day.
The strong sun on a clear day simply caused many problems during the first period. Several players and even a referee lost their footing on the melted ice. After the end of the first period, the employees made an attempt to work with the ice and covered their sections with tarps, in an attempt to avoid the sun. The league eventually decided to postpone the game to resume at midnight ET / 9pm PT.
As for the action that happened on the ice when it was considered safe to play, Avalanche center Nathan McKinnon proved why he is one of the most electrifying stars in the NHL. MacKinnon registered a goal and a pair of assists in the 3-2 victory over the Golden Knights. That marked the team’s second win over Vegas last week.
McKinnon easily provided the most exciting move of the day by going from end to end and scoring against Las Vegas goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury in the middle of the second period, which gave Avalanche a 2-1 lead. The score came just minutes after Golden Knights defender Alec Martinez tied the game 1-1 with a rebound in the Colorado net.
With less than seven minutes to go to the third period, Devon Toews landed a shot from Fleury in the direct match for 3-1. However, Golden Knights striker Alex Tuch reduced to a 3-2 game after a nice spin in front of Avalanche goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer to make it interesting, but in the end it was a little too late .
During the first period, Avalanche opened the scoring with a goal from defender Samuel Girard thanks to a beautiful pass from MacKinnon at 2:58 am from the start of the competition.
In an effort to prevent a similar ice situation from happening when the Flyers face the Bruins on Sunday, the league postponed the start of the game from 2 pm to 7 pm.