Postgame Wrap-Up: Graves Makes NHL Debut

LAS VEGAS--Ryan Graves had just arrived in San Jose with his American Hockey League teammates when he was summoned to get back onto an airplane. It was a trip he was gladly going to take as the flight was heading to Las Vegas and the NHL.
Graves suited up in his first NHL game on Thursday night as the Colorado Avalanche faced the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in both clubs' first game back from the holiday break.

"I was pretty excited. I had waited for that call for a few years now, and it was great," the Avs' Graves said following the contest. "When I heard it was Vegas, I was more excited. Just an awesome overall experience."
The only thing that might have made the evening sweeter for Graves was if he and the Avalanche could have left Sin City with two points. Brandon Pirri broke a tie midway through the second period for the Golden Knights and Colorado fell 2-1.
Graves finished his first contest with two shots on goal, four attempts, one hit and one blocked shot in 8:26 of ice time.

It was a long time coming for the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, native as he had spent the past four-plus seasons and 254 games in the AHL with the New York Rangers' and Avalanche's minor-league affiliates.
The defenseman's hard work had finally paid off.
"I was really excited when I got that call. My family was excited," Graves said. "My mom, my dad and my girlfriend were here tonight, which is great. It would have been nice to get a win here tonight, but the overall experience, kind of a crazy day, a crazy few days. It's been a good experience, and I'm very grateful for it."
Selected by the Rangers in the fourth round (No. 110 overall) of the 2013 draft, Graves was acquired by the Avs in a trade on Feb. 26, 2018. The 2018-19 season marks his first full campaign with the Avalanche organization, and he had recorded two goals and six assists in 26 AHL games with the Colorado Eagles prior to his first NHL call-up.
The blueliner began Thursday's outing paired with Patrik Nemeth on the backend and said the message to him was consistent prior to the contest: just play your game.
"The coaches down there (in the AHL) and the coaches here were saying, 'You're here for a reason, so go out there and be simple and don't try and do too much,'" Graves said. "The first little bit, I was just trying to make a good outlet pass and play good D and play a simple game."
Now that the first game is done with, the work is only beginning for Graves to stay in the best league in the world.
But for one night, he'll enjoy how far he's come.
"There are obviously things I need to work on; you'll get more comfortable as you go along," Graves said. "It would have been nice to get a win, but personally I'm decently happy with how it went."
CALL J.T. COMPHER, 877-GOALS-NOW:J.T. Compher extended his point streak to three games with his 10th goal of the campaign.
He scored on a power play after he took a shot pass from Mikko Rantanen at the left of the Vegas crease and redirected the puck into the back of the net to give Colorado a 1-0 lead at 9:42 of the first period.
Compher has two goals and two assists during his three-game run and now has seven points (three goals and four assists) in his last seven outings. His three straight team games with at least a point ties a personal career long.
The Avs forward now has 16 points (10 goals and six assists) in 22 contests in 2018-19 and has scored on 23.8 percent of the shots he's taken.
60-POINT CLUB: Mikko Rantanen became the second player in the NHL to reach 60 points this season with an assist on Compher's goal.
The Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov was the first NHLer to hit the mark after recording a goal and three assists in a 6-5 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers earlier in the day. Tampa's game ended at 10:21 p.m. ET, 14 minutes after the Avs' contest in Vegas began.
Kucherov now has 61 points (17 goals, 44 assists) on the campaign and takes over the NHL scoring lead from Rantanen (60 points). It is the first time that Rantanen hasn't held sole possession of the top spot in 43 days and a share of it in 65 days.
Rantanen was the first NHL player to 20, 30, 40 and 50 points.
ZADOROV UPDATE: Defenseman Nikita Zadorov missed his third consecutive game Thursday with lower-body injury.
"He skated yesterday on his own," Bednar said of Zadorov's status following morning skate. "It didn't go very well, and he's not on the trip and not able to play for us today. I don't know any more than that. I would say he's still day-to-day."
Zadorov was hurt during the Dec. 19 game against the Montreal Canadiens. He is joined on the Avs' injured list with Mark Barberio (upper body), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder) and Colin Wilson (upper body).
MORE NOTES: The Avalanche finished 1-for-4 on the power play and is now 37-for-136 (27.2 percent) this season, the fourth-ranked power play in the league. Colorado is 23-for-76 (30.3 percent) with the man advantage on the road, which ranks third in the NHL.
Sheldon Dries had a career-high five hits.
Ian Cole registered three blocked shots to bring his season total to a league-high 105.