DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak to three with a 4-1 triumph over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night at Ball Arena.

Chaotic Start, Composed Finish

The Avalanche continued to build their case as one of the NHL’s elite defensive teams, limiting the Bruins to just 14 shots on goal in a suffocating performance. Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman was valiant under relentless pressure, keeping the game within reach, but Colorado’s precision and poise ultimately proved too much to overcome.

The game began in chaotic fashion, with both clubs scoring on their first shots. John Beecher opened the scoring for Boston after redirecting a Charlie McAvoy shot that deflected off Josh Manson—who had courageously laid out to block the attempt. The unfortunate bounce rewarded the Bruins but only briefly.

Moments later, Nathan MacKinnon, who led the Avalanche with two goals on the night, struck back. After Artturi Lehkonen forced David Pastrňák into a turnover at center ice, Lehkonen delivered a perfect feed to MacKinnon streaking down the left wing, and the superstar buried a backhander past Swayman to even the score.

Manson redeemed himself soon after, blasting home a one-timer from Brent Burns for Colorado’s second goal—again on their second shot of the game. From that point forward, the Avalanche dictated the pace, showcasing their composure and structure despite the frenetic start.

Areas for Refinement

If there was one blemish on Colorado’s performance, it came in the faceoff circle. Midway through the second period, Boston held a 63% edge on draws—a statistic the Avalanche will want to improve against possession-heavy opponents.

The power play also remained a work in progress, finishing 0-for-5 on the night. Still, the Avalanche generated sustained pressure and quality looks, and head coach Jared Bednar remains optimistic about the direction of the special teams under new assistant coach Dave Hakstol.

“I think it’s a different view on the power plays (with Hakstol), some different messaging," Bednar told The Hockey News. “It’s not that the messaging wasn't good before, it's just trying to add and grow our PP units with a different view. He's helping out our young guys and our forwards and doing some video with those guys. It's a new voice, a new perspective, a guy's that's been around, (he's) an experienced good coach. I can't say better or worse, it's just different, and I think the guys are refreshed with some of the messaging that he's getting. That's why I have faith in the power play; I like what they're talking about. It's a matter of getting together and gelling a little bit."

Wedgewood Shines Again

Goaltender Scott Wedgewood was once again outstanding, stopping 13 of 14 shots in another composed, technically sound performance. His consistency has been a revelation early in the season, though Bednar hinted that a rest could be coming soon.

When asked when backup Trent Miner might see his first start, Bednar’s reply was characteristically concise:

“We’ll see.”

Overall, this team is very solid especially this early in the season. The Avalanche have nine goals against through six games. Last season, they gave up eight goals on opening night alone. This is a huge improvement, and of course, the offense is still producing at an extremely high rate.

Looking Ahead

The Avalanche (5-0-1) now embark on a brief road trip as they prepare to face the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday, October 21. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. local time

When the Pittsburgh Penguins embarked on their three-game California road swing at the beginning of the week, they had begun the season 2-1 and hoped to continue carrying that momentum on the West Coast.

And - by and large - they were able to do so.

After going 1-1 in their first two games of the trip against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, the Penguins ended their road swing Saturday on a winning note, as they beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-0. The win puts Pittsburgh at 4-2 on the season, while the Sharks have yet to find themselves in the win column with an 0-3-2 record.

After a first period where the Penguins had 18 shots on goal and dominated possession in the first half - and the Sharks nearly capitalized on some high-danger opportunities in the back half - the second period also saw the teams trade chances. The Penguins were the first to strike at 7:35 of the middle frame, when Kris Letang floated a shot toward the goal and toward ex-Penguin goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.

On the puck's way in, Sidney Crosby flashed his hand-eye coordination and got the shaft of his stick on it for a deflection, which resulted in the game's first goal. The score remained 1-0 heading into the final frame.

Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby. An iconic duo. pic.twitter.com/90u4aZXSVP

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 19, 2025

And in that final frame - again - there were a few odd-man breaks both ways. Finally, on one of them a tick more than seven minutes into the third, Evgeni Malkin made a nice play around the offensive blue line to get the puck to a red-hot Justin Brazeau, who cut around a defender and toward the middle of the ice for a two-on-one involving him and Anthony Mantha.

Brazeau slipped a beautiful backhand pass under the stick of Nick Leddy and over to a breaking Mantha at the right circle, and Mantha took possession of the puck and sniped one in the upper-left corner and past Nedeljkovic to put the Penguins ahead, 2-0.

Size and skill on full display 💪 pic.twitter.com/2a6H2zCdUa

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 19, 2025

To cap it off, Evgeni Malkin took a nice, long pass from Sidney Crosby and put the puck home in the empty net, which finalized the score at 3-0.

Here are some notes and observations from this game:

- San Jose has some legitimate young talent, especially at the forward position.

But, man, this team looks a far cry away from contending. 

As poorly as individual Penguins' players lapsed defensively at times during this game, there weren't too many systemic issues as far as team defense. San Jose, on the other end, has a long way to go defensively - team and individual - before they can think about competing with their young roster.

The Penguins may not end up being very good this year, but they'll probably be better than the Sharks.

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- The youngsters Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke were absolutely fantastic in this game.

Kindel had a shift in the first period when he got about four shots off at the net front. He was noticeable all night in every zone, and his smarts were evident throughout. There was one play I especially liked where the puck was dumped deeper in the offensive zone along the left wall and behind the net, and most players would have thought to chase it. 

Not Kindel. While a couple of Sharks chased it, he recognized the play, changed his route, came in from the right side of the net, got to it first, and immediately set up Tommy Novak - who just mishandled it - for a scoring chance in the slot off a nice feed. It was a remarkable show of intelligence from a young player.

And Brunicke was brilliant in the offensive zone. There was one play in the second period when he made a move to cut into the slot, and he fired a shot off the goal post. The release on the shot was a thing of beauty. He was also walking the offensive blue line and cycling around the offensive zone with ease and confidence.

He still needs some work on his reads jumping into plays, as he gets caught up-ice defensively sometimes and lets guys get behind him, a juniors habit that should get better with time. But his skating and his confidence with the puck on his stick is mesmerizing.

These guys should be here beyond their respective game nines.

- Brazeau continues to impress. I never realized his hands were this soft, but for a big man, there is a lot of finesse to his game.

Now that Mantha is heating up, too, that big second line is hard to play against for the opposition. Malkin has nine points in six games, too, and looks like his vintage self.

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- This was another relatively quiet game from the top line. It's only a matter of time before they turn on the jets and get going, but I would like to see more from them. 

At some point, I'd also love to see Kindel get some time with Crosby. I think they'd be brilliant together. 

- Kris Letang's early-season play has been less than inspiring. It's still early, and there is plenty of time for him to turn things around, especially since his partner, Ryan Shea, has been brilliant. 

But Father Time surely isn't on his side, and it seems like his skating has lost a big step. Hopefully, he can right the ship, but he may need to adapt his game a bit in order to do so.

- The Penguins are back at home Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks, and it's likely that Arturs Silovs will get the start against his old team.

Both Penguins' goaltenders have put together good showings in their most recent performance. Head coach Dan Muse has been directly rotating them, and I'd expect that to continue into the coming games. 

Should Silovs Be The Penguins' Starting Goaltender?Heading into the 2025-26 season, <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>' head coach said Dan Muse that he didn't have a concrete plan for the goaltending split between Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs.&nbsp;

Bookmark THN - Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!   

Rise and shine, Vancouver Canucks fans — today’s game against the Washington Capitals is an early one. The Canucks are coming off back-to-back comeback wins against the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks, bringing their record up to 3–2–0 on the season. Washington, on the other hand, is coming off a 5–1 win that elevates them to a 4–1–0 record. 

This is Vancouver’s third game in the past four days, with the team facing a total of five opponents within the span of a week. Today officially marks the halfway point of the roadtrip, with the Canucks only having two more games to go before making a quick stop at home. While they managed to keep the pace going throughout overtime on Friday, the Canucks may not be able to maintain the same high-energy play throughout the rest of the roadtrip.  

An area the Canucks will want to focus on today is on the power play. While they found success early on during Friday’s game with a netfront goal from Jake DeBrusk, Vancouver was unable to convert on two golden chances late in the third period. This will be even more important to focus on today in particular, as Washington currently sits at 30th in the NHL in penalty killing with 63.6%. The Canucks will want to use the Capitals’ weakness against them to help escape Washington with a win. 

Players To Watch: 

Max Sasson 

With every game he plays this season, Sasson’s stock keeps on soaring. The forward has a goal in every NHL and AHL game he has played in this season and has been instrumental in breathing life into Vancouver’s familiar fourth-line of himself, Arshdeep Bains, and Linus Karlsson. This line has stood out for the Canucks since being iced on Thursday, bringing speed and heavy forecheck to the team when needed most. The center has been a great addition to Vancouver’s roster since being called-up at the start of the week, showcasing good shooting instincts and brilliant bursts of speed. Will he extend his goal streak today against the Capitals? 

Tom Wilson

A name who always sticks out on the Capitals’ roster is Wilson, though currently, it’s for different reasons. The tough forward leads his team in points to start the season with seven in five games played, nabbing a goal and an assist in Washington’s offensive effort against the Wild on Friday. Wilson has been paired up with Connor McMichael and the Capitals’ leading goal-scorer Aliaksei Protas throughout the start of the season, and it’s expected that this line will continue their dominance today as well. Expect to see him on both sides of the ice, as he has logged minutes on both the Capitals’ power play and penalty kill so far this year.   

Vancouver Canucks (3–2–0): 

Points: 

Conor Garland: 1–3–4

Quinn Hughes: 1–3–4

Brock Boeser: 3–0–3

Filip Chytil: 3–0–3

Kiefer Sherwood: 3–0–3 

Goaltenders: 

Thatcher Demko: 2–1–0

Kevin Lankinen: 1–1–0 

Washington Capitals (4–1–0): 

Points: 

Tom Wilson: 3–4–7

Aliaksei Protas: 4–2–6

Dylan Strome: 2–4–6

Alex Ovechkin: 1–3–4

Jakub Chychrun: 1–3–4

Goaltenders: 

Logan Thompson: 3–1–0

Charlie Lindgren: 1–0–0

Game Information: 

Start time: 9:30 am PT

Venue: Capital One Arena

Television: Sportsnet Radio: Sportsnet 650 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

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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...