The third time is the charm! The Avalanche won their first outdoor game in franchise history at Lake Tahoe on Saturday against the Golden Knights. Colorado proved to be the more flexible squad, outlasting Las Vegas in the second and third periods after the game was delayed for almost nine hours due to poor ice conditions.
The scene couldn’t have been more beautiful at puck drop — noon local time. The temporary ice rink was set on the 18th fairway of the Edgewood Tahoe Resort golf course. The rink was only steps away from the southern shore of Lake Tahoe. Just behind the sparkling blue water stood the snowcapped Sierra Nevada mountains. It seemed like hockey heaven but for one thing: the sun was out!
Though most outdoor sports’ definition of perfect weather includes a plethora of sunshine, hockey is obviously the polar opposite. The warmth from the sun at high noon in Nevada caused the ice to become soft and melt in certain places.
After the first period had ended, the ice crew on-site spent nearly 20 minutes trying to patch the ice by hand with buckets of snow, cold mats, and other tools. The NHL then determined the conditions to be unfit for play. They announced the game would be delayed until 10PM Saturday evening.
“The ice was pretty bad and slushy obviously because of the sun but we were still ready to play, said Avs forward Gabriel Landeskog. The Captain cited the large projected viewership of the game as the main reason his teammates were eager to stay on the ice when conditions began to turn.
That willingness to play through the conditions certainly showed in the first period which saw Colorado outshoot Vegas 22 to 10. They went up 1-0 after just three minutes of play when Samuel Girard wristed home a cross-ice feed from Nathan MacKinnon.
The ice conditions certainly impacted the back half of the first period. Sloppy play from Vegas, who seemed far less disposed to playing on slushy ice, gave Colorado several powerplay opportunities. They were surprisingly ineffective with their advantage, however. As one of the better, more aggressive powerplay teams in the NHL, it appeared that the poor conditions threw off the Avalanche’s rhythm.
It took nine hours and five minutes for the game to resume. Many players treated the delay like they would a normal night game. Teams usually have a morning skate which serves as a short practice and warm-up before taking the ice in the evening against their opponent.
The game resumed late that night. While the marvelous backdrop witnessed earlier that day became shrouded by the dark, the Avs’ brand new reverse retro jerseys looked terrific under the lights. The jerseys paid homage to the Quebec Nordiques, the organization predating the Avalanche that relocated to Denver in 1995.
Vegas played a more inspired brand of hockey in the second and third periods, but the two teams would trade goals until the Avalanche emerged victorious 3-2. The highlight of the day came in the 11th minute of the second period when MacKinnon forced a turnover in the Avs defensive zone, scorched up the right wall and blistered a snap-shot past the blocker of Marc-André Fleury.
The Avalanche were thrilled to gain two points on the Knights and secure their first-ever outdoor victory as a franchise.“The overall experience was amazing,” said Landeskog. “I think it is a memory of a lifetime and, finally, we broke the curse of these outdoor games. It makes it a lot more special.”
Colorado will return to home ice to face Vegas for the final game of their four-game series on Monday night.
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