The Vegas Golden Knights absolutely demolished the Calgary Flames 6-1 in Sin City on Saturday night NHL action.

The Flames have now lost five in a row and are dead last in the overall NHL rankings for the season.

Here are the takeaways:

What's Going on with Dustin Wolf

As of the end of this game, Wolf has given up 15 goals in five games in even-strength hockey and has an Expected Goals Against (xGA) value of 8.33. That is below expected by 6.67, the BIGGEST in the league.

Safe to say he is in a sophomore slump, but it's still early in the season to pick it up.

Second Period Slump

You could make the argument the Flames just got unlucky in the first period. The first shot of the game ended up being a Mitch Marner goal. After that shot, until the 11:25 mark of the first period, the Flames and Knights were even at 5-5 in shots on goal, including trading PP goals, that put the Knights up 2-1.

Calgary then outshot Vegas 8-1 until the second-last minute. Unfortunately, that lone Knights shot found the back of the Flames net, putting them up 3-1 at the first intermission.

That's pretty unlucky.

But there was no excuse for the nightmare that was the second period.

Forget about the shot count: The Golden Knights had 15 scoring opportunities while the Flames had two. In terms of high-danger scoring opportunities, Vegas had five, including a shorthanded attempt. Two of those ended up being goals.

Calgary had zero high-danger scoring opportunities. They were no threat for Vegas goalie Adin Hill. The second period was basically a walk in the park for him.

The Flames would stage a comeback in the third period, but could not produce any goals.

Poor Penalty-Kill

The Flames went 0-for-3 on the penalty-kill. You cannot expect to put on a respectable season record if the penalty-kill is zero on the dot. 

Bottom Line

As for as what I liked with the Flames, Nazem Kadri was 11-of-15 (73.3%) on the face-off.

That's about it.

The Flames will now come back home to take on the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.

To know how bad the Calgary offense was going into this game, check out this to see who had the most individual total shots for the team all season. 

HINT: It's a defenceman...

Despite a competitive first period, the Colorado Avalanche outplayed the Boston Bruins overall. The Avalanche outshot the Bruins in every period, but goaltender Jeremy Swayman kept the Bruins within striking distance throughout the game. Nathan MacKinnon's two-goal performance ultimately helped the Avalanche win and secure two valuable points.

Recap

The action starts early, as Charlie McAvoy sets up John Beecher with a nice slap pass to take the early 1-0 lead with the first shot on goal in the game. The Avalanche ties it up four minutes later, with David Pastrnak turning the puck over and Artturi Lehkonen recovering it. It's Nathan MacKinnon who finishes the play with a nice backhand shot, 1-1. 

Three minutes later, off a Gabriel Landeskog face-off win, Brent Burns feeds Josh Manson, who rifles one a one-timer past Jeremy Swayman and in, 2-1. MacKinnon is called for tripping Fraser Minten, although on replay, it appears Minten tripped on the puck. However, the call stands, and the Avalanche kills off the penalty, ending the period 2-1.

Bada bing bada boom 💥 pic.twitter.com/ItbKacVmou

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 19, 2025

It was all Avalanche in the second period, though Swayman has been on top of his game, keeping the Bruins within a one-goal deficit. The Avalanche power play struggle continues as they get two more opportunities in the period, a Hampus Lindholm cross-checking penalty and a McAvoy tripping penalty, but nothing comes out of those attempts. Finishing the period outshooting the Bruins 17-2, it's still close with one period remaining. 

Four minutes into the period, MacKinnon receives another great pass from Lehkonen, who blasts it right past Swayman to make it 3-1. Swayman was also partially screened by his own teammate, recognizing the shot went past him too late. Wedgewood hasn't needed to make many saves this game, but he makes his best robbing Beecher, who tried to rifle in a rebound shot, and his second of the match, but Wedgewood flashes his glove and holds the 3-1 lead. Josh Manson is called for interference, but the Avalanche kills the penalty off. 

Scott Wedgewood R U KIDDING?! pic.twitter.com/H3f5hg7lBz

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 19, 2025

Nikita Zadorov crashes into Wedgwood, which causes a small scrum in front of the net, and him being called for goalie interference. The Avalanche once again fails to capitalize on the power play. The Bruins pull Swayman with two minutes left in the period, and Martin Necas capitalizes on the empty net and scores to make it 4-1, ending the game.

The Colorado Avalanche are back in action on Tuesday, October 21, against the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Joel Kiviranta out indefinitely with lower-body injuryJoel Kiviranta is sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury apparently sustained during Thursday’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Mackenzie Blackwood’s conditioning stint with Eagles ends early as Avalanche eye returnMackenzie Blackwood’s unexpectedly brief conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles appears to signal a pivotal step in his recovery, positioning him for an imminent return to the Avalanche’s NHL roster.

Mitch Marner loves to "hear the love and the loudness" inside T-Mobile Arena, his new home arena with the Golden Knights.

Saturday he helped fuel the energy for an announced crowd of 17,811 by scoring his first two goals as a Knight, while Vegas cruised to a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames.

OH WHAT A KNIGHT 🙌#VegasBorn | #TheGoldenAgepic.twitter.com/mQaes1MHKf

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 19, 2025

Vegas (4-0-2) extended its season-opening point streak to six games.

Team captain Mark Stone finished with two goals and two assists, while Jack Eichel had four assists.

Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Knights.

Adin Hill earned his first win of the season after stopping 26 shots, as he made his first start since exiting the game in Calgary on Tuesday.

"I felt in control the whole night," Hill said. "They kept kind of looking for backdoor plays on the power play. And I was just trying to kind of stay in my net and keep my feet under me and do everything I came to be in position."

And while the Flames finished 1 of 3 on the power play, Vegas was a perfect 3 of 3 with the man advantage.

The Golden Knights rank second in the NHL with their power play percentage (37.5%).

"It's pretty fun," Marner said of the power play. "So many different threats out there that make plays. For me, it's just trying to find open ice for Jack to make his play. ... They've done a great job down low, really making teams play in different areas there. It's been a lot of fun to watch."

Marner opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the game, bringing the home crowd to life immediately. But it was the 28-year-old forward's crafty stick work that sent the crowd into a frenzy near the end of the second period.

First bit of Marner Magic in Las Vegas 🪄🤩 pic.twitter.com/cVUeSFg0u8

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 19, 2025

Marner extended Vegas' lead to four goals when he gathered a pass from Stone during a power play, skated to the front of the crease and used a forehand-backhand deke to beat Calgary netminder Dustin Wolf

WHO DOES THIS?!?!?!? pic.twitter.com/4yPXZhdsIj

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 19, 2025

Marner now has eight points on the year, after assisting on six goals in the first five games.

Eichel, who extended his season-opening point streak to six games after finishing with four assists, owns the franchise record for the most points through the club’s first six games of the season. His 15 points lead the league, while his five multi-point games are the most by any skater this season.

Stone is second in the league with 13 points, including an NHL-high 11 assists. Eichel is just behind him with 10 helpers.

Two for Mark Stone tonight!! pic.twitter.com/qLdITBZymZ

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 19, 2025

Stone left the game in the third period after falling to the ice near the neutral zone, and immediately went to the locker room. Television replays showed him rotating his wrist. Cassidy said there were no immediate updates and he would know more by Monday's morning skate ahead of Vegas' game against Carolina.

Hertl, who scored his third goal of the season, played in the 797th game of his career. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Hertl will play in his 800th career game on Oct. 26 in Tampa, on the second of a back-to-back after visiting two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida.

ST. LOUIS – It was pretty low-keyed around here for the St. Louis Blues after their last home game on Wednesday.

They were lambasted by the Chicago Blackhawks, 8-3, and dropped to 0-2-0 at Enterprise Center and outscored 13-3. Coach Jim Montgomery was wanting to see “more of a competitive spirit by our team.”

Well he got that and then some on Saturday night against a very good Dallas Stars, and the Blues responded with arguably their most complete effort of the season, winning 3-1 for their first home win of the season.

Jordan Kyrou scored his first goal of the season, Jimmy Snuggerud added his third in three games, Pius Suter iced it with an empty-net goal, and Jordan Binnington came within 2:18 of earning his first shutout of the season, but the Blues’ netminder made 18 saves.

“Obviously way better game overall,” Kyrou said. “I thought our habits were great. I thought our effort was great, our compete was great. It’s great to get that first win at home.”

Lets look at Saturday’s observations:

* Best stick game in years? – Well, according to Montgomery, it was, in fact the best game using their sticks to break up plays since a special time around these parts.

“Our sticks were probably the best I’ve seen them since probably the year after the Blues won the Cup,” Montgomery said. “That was a really good year and that team had great sticks. Something we’ve been preaching and the players are starting to do it. Hopefully we can develop that consistently.”

The Stars have plenty of weapons, and in particular, if you allow them to gain a head of steam, especially from their defensemen moving pucks in transition, you will get burned.

The Blues as a group were killing plays, and when the Stars were gaining the zone, the D-men were efficient in not allowing pucks to get to the net, they intercepted seam passes, tied up sticks in front of Binnington and used those break-ups to their advantage.

“We were just moving our feet,” Kyrou said. “We were staying on top, not really diving down and not letting them get too many odd-man rushes, just staying on top of them and good sticks.

“They’re a super dynamic offensive squad. We want to kind of limit them as much as possible and try to take away any sort of speed that they can get. Obviously with the forecheck it kind of helped.”

* Forecheck was highly efficient – The Blues had a great advantage with offensive zone time and a large part of it was due to their forecheck. They got in on the body, and the forecheck and stick work went hand in hand this game.

The Stars were having to chase the puck for extended shifts in the D-zone, and for an efficient team that’s good at turning pucks out, they had their issues handling the Blues on this night.

It helped fuel the two goals scored in the second period when the Blues outshot the Stars 12-5.

“I think it was a big factor, but more importantly, we tried to force too many offensive plays because we had time to make plays,” Montgomery said. ‘Instead of just possessing it and then either finding someone open in the slot five to seven seconds later, we wanted to find someone in the first period right away. But in the second period, I think that might have been our best period of the year so far.”

* Needed a bounce back – Quite simply, the game Wednesday against the Blackhawks was embarrassing for the Blues.

It was a game of pond hockey at its best but for all the wrong reasons. An effort and executed game like that against a top-notch Western Conference team would not have looked pretty.

But the players regrouped, realized it was put up or shut up and they rose to the occasion.

“We knew we needed to respond,” Binnington said. ‘… We’re still building something here. We got right back to work on Friday and now we’re building each day and it was a big response by us.”

Added defenseman Cam Fowler, who had an exceptional defensive game with partner Colton Parayko, “That was a lot better. Obviously we were disappointed with the effort that we had in that last game and even the game before that on home ice. We didn’t come out to play either of those games. Tonight was a lot better overall team effort against a really good hockey team. A good victory for our group moving forward.”

* Kyrou’s goal example of effort paying off – What amounted to be a tight-checking game where mistakes would need to be limited and the first goal would provide to be a huge one, Kyrou took matters into his own hands, and it was the start of the goal that put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 2:27 of the second period that signified the rewarding feeling of making a solid defensive play and turning it into offense.

Kyrou, who had his stick work on par in this game, was able to backtrack into the neutral zone, check the puck back before working up the right side into the zone, cut it back to Brayden Schenn, get it back, ease past Matt Duchene before beating Jake Oettinger low glove:

Look at these moves by Jordan Kyrou. #stlbluespic.twitter.com/t6NmRh14Vb

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 19, 2025

“ Feels good to get the first one finally,” Kyrou said. “Great play by ‘Schenner’ to get it to me there. I kind of just saw low glove side so I just shot it there.

“Obviously none of us had a great game the other day, including myself. I wanted to try and have a bounce-back game.”

Montgomery was certainly appreciative.

“ Kyrou in particular, his first goal was just an incredible reload where he back-checks and he has his stick on the ice and his God-given ability took over,” Montgomery said.

* Tucker middle net drive on Snuggerud goal – Blues coaches always encourage the defensemen to pinch offensively, and when the Blues got a 3-on-2 breakout, Tyler Tucker knew exactly what he needed to do: act like a forward.

As the defenseman starting the transition, he left the puck off for Pavel Buchnevich while taking his man with him to the net. Buchnevich would get off a shot from the slot, get another attempt that allowed Snuggerud, at the net where he should be, enough wherewithal to poke the puck past Oettinger at 13:52 for a crucial goal and a 2-0 lead:

That's 3 goals in the last 3 games for Jimmy Snuggerud. #stlbluespic.twitter.com/0ByR8vBemk

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 19, 2025

“It was a really good example of it,” Montgomery said. “We want our defensemen to be active. I actually think that once we get in sync and we get in rhythm, our D-corps can be one of the highest-scoring D-corps in the league. I think we already have a fair amount of goals from our D-corps, but I think it’s going to be more and more. We’ve had a lot of good deflections off their shots.”

* Binnington glove save on Johnston – The Blues had control of the game, but a strong team like the Stars, you knew a third-period push was coming.

If Dallas gets an early goal to make it a one-shot game, it would have been game on.

But when Binnington gloved Wyatt Johnston’s effort in tight to keep it a 2-0 game at 5:35, it just felt like at that moment it would be the Blues’ night:

dontcha just gLOVE to see it? pic.twitter.com/wO6zpArpGK

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 19, 2025

“He’s a nifty player and I know he can get it up quick,” Binnington said of Johnston. “It just worked out well there. Unfortunately they got one at the end there, but it’s hockey so it was a fun game, fun atmosphere and fans were great too.”

* Suter effort on ENG typified solid team game – The Blues were buckled down after Mikko Rantanen in fact spoiled Binnington’s shutout with 2:18 remaining. That meant that the 5-on-6 group would have to go to work again, and Montgomery had some of his most trusted and reliable defenders on the ice at the time.

Suter was one of them, and his effort along the wall to not only be able to push a puck out of the zone, but fight through Miro Heiskanen before diving and having enough to poke the puck down the ice for the clincher was the icing on the cake of several strong efforts in this game:

and he is not going to get there... pic.twitter.com/4VJ8Pxin9I

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 19, 2025

“The more we’re getting to know him, the more we realize how smart he is as a hockey player everywhere, and his defensive instincts are really good,” Montgomery said of Suter. “I really liked how well we checked, and it was for 60 minutes. That was a really good team effort. They feel really good about themselves. When you work and you play as five (man units) … our goaltender had to make some great saves, but they weren’t 15. They were less than five.”