Golden Knights score seven against Avalanche, win fifth in row

LAS VEGAS-- Seven Vegas Golden Knights scored, and Oscar Dansk made 32 saves for their first shutout, in a 7-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.
Vegas (8-1-0) has won five in a row to continue the best start by an NHL expansion team.

WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Golden Knights highlights]
"I've just been trying to work in practice and keep up with the pace with the guys," Dansk said. "Goalie coach Dave [Prior] has been on me quite a bit, keeping me strict with everything, all the details. It's been unexpected, but a lot of fun."
David Perron, Oscar Lindberg, Cody Eakin and James Neal scored in the second period, and Jonathan Marchessault, Erik Haula and William Carrier scored in the third.
Dansk got his first NHL shutout and has won three straight games since taking over for injured Malcolm Subban (lower body), who was replacing Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion).
Semyon Varlamov made 14 saves for the Avalanche (5-5-0).
Colorado outshot Vegas 10-1 in the first eight minutes of the second period but the Golden Knights scored four times on their next six shots.
Perron scored his third goal of the season at 8:50 off a turnover by Colorado forward Nail Yakupov at the blue line. Perron deked to his left and finished with a backhand for a 1-0 lead.
Lindberg forced a turnover by Avalanche forward Sven Andrighetto, moved the puck past defenseman Chris Bigras and shot the puck over Varlamov's head to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead at 12:19.
"Two of the first three goals were self-inflicted," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We've got to be better with the puck in some of those areas when there's danger."
Eakin scored his first goal of the season at 15:33 off assists from Neal and Perron to make it 3-0. Neal scored his seventh goal in nine games at 18:16 for a 4-0 lead.

Marchessault scored at 5:26 of the third period, his third goal of the season and for the second game in a row, to give Vegas a 5-0 lead. Haula, who was activated off injured reserve prior to the game, scored at 7:29 to push the lead to 6-0. William Carrier's first goal of the season made it 7-0 at 13:31.
"I feel like we're really a proud group and we want to prove everybody wrong and got a hard-working group and we all care about each other, we don't really care who gets the credit," said Haula, who missed four games with a lower-body injury. "We just work together. A successful team doesn't surround itself by individuals, it surrounds itself by a good group and team effort."

Goal of the game

Perron's goal at 8:50 of the second period.

Save of the game

Dansk's save on Carl Soderberg at 2:18 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Lindberg's goal at 12:19 of the second period.

They said it

"I'm not too surprised. I think they got a lot of good players out of the [NHL] Expansion Draft, and I think no matter what team you play every night, you're going to be in for a challenge." -- Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson
"I like how we started, the first 10 minutes we were playing a perfect game, and then it was kind of even. You worry a little bit coming into the second, are we going to respond to that, so it's always good to get the first goal. ... We just kept rolling after that." -- Golden Knights forward David Perron

Need to know

The Golden Knights' five-game winning streak matches the 1926-27 New York Rangers and 1979-80 Edmonton Oilers for the longest at any point in a debut NHL season. ... The Golden Knights waived defensemen Jason Garrison and sent Griffin Reinhart to the American Hockey League on a conditioning loan to activate Haula. … Vegas went 6-1-0 on its homestand and averaged 4.29 goals per game. … Tyson Barrie's point streak ended at six games, keeping the Avalanche defenseman at 199 NHL points.

What's next

Avalanche: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: At the New York islanders on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)