LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brandon Pirri has played in only six games for the Vegas Golden Knights Calgary Flames T-Shirts Authentic , four this season.And all he does is score.Pirri got his fourth goal of the campaign midway through the third period Thursday night, sending Vegas to a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.“I’m just trying to contribute every way I can. It’s a great opportunity for me, I really don’t want to waste it,” said Pirri, who has at least one point in every game he’s played for Vegas. “The team’s playing well. I thought we played three solid periods tonight. We played a complete 60 tonight and it showed.”Pirri, recalled from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves earlier in the day, blistered a shot from the point past goaltender Philipp Grubauer with 9:49 left. In his six games with the Golden Knights, Pirri has seven goals and one assist.Vegas, with the eighth-best penalty kill in the NHL, staved off back-to-back power plays for Colorado in the final six minutes. The Golden Knights have the fourth-best home penalty kill, stopping opponents on 48 of 55 opportunities (87.3 percent).“I think it gives you a lot of energy when you have your guys go out there and kill a penalty,” Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “It kind of deflates you for a second ’cause you’ve got to go right back into it, but guys take that pride in knowing they’re going out there and got to stop the power play, otherwise you’re possibly heading into overtime.”Overtime was the last thing the Golden Knights wanted after losing consecutive games in OT at home on Saturday and Sunday against Montreal and Los Angeles Calgary Flames Hoodies Authentic , respectively, by identical scores of 4-3.“That was make or break right there. Last (two) games the other teams beat us at the end of the game and I didn’t want that to happen again,” said Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 31 saves to improve to 21-10-4. “I thought our guys did a great job in front of me, defending and taking space away from them. Our D-men have been great. I didn’t have too much action at some times, but at the end I knew I had to make a couple of saves to keep it there.”Paul Stastny celebrated his 33rd birthday with a goal for the Golden Knights, who remained in third place in the Pacific Division with 46 points — one back of San Jose.Grubauer (8-4-3) made 41 saves and J.T. Compher scored for the Avalanche, third in the Central Division with 44 points — two behind second-place Nashville.Colorado, which ranks fourth in the NHL in goals (130) and sixth in goals per game (3.42), was held to one or none for the sixth time this season. The Avalanche lead the league in third-period goals (54) but were shut out late by Fleury, who made 13 saves in the final frame.“I think we’ve gone through some stretches where we’ve had some trouble with our breakouts here, which we’ve never really had before,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I think, in our zone Calgary Flames Hats Authentic , we’re too selective on our shots. I’d like to see us move it, shoot it a little more. I thought they did a really nice job early. It doesn’t have to be a fancy, highlight-reel play. It’s just got to get to the net and make sure we have numbers.”Compher found the net when he camped out to the right of Fleury and tipped in Mikko Rantanen’s shot to give the Avalanche an early 1-0 lead. Rantanen has 60 points (16 goals, 44 assists), including at least one in 19 of his last 22 games.Vegas tied it later in the first period when Stastny — drafted 44th overall by Colorado in 2005 — took the puck to the net and was denied by Grubauer before punching in his own rebound with a backhand.Stastny, who played his first eight NHL seasons with the Avs and ranks ninth on their career scoring list with 458 points, has three goals for the Golden Knights — all in the last six games.Vegas improved to 3-0-1 against the Avalanche since joining the league last season and has outscored them by a combined 14-4.NOTES: Vegas forward Max Pacioretty went back on injured reserve. … Golden Knights forward Ryan Carpenter played in his 100th career game. … Vegas improved to 8-0 with 40 or more shots on goal. … Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon is the only NHL player to rank among the league’s top 10 in points (third with 57), goals (ninth with 22) and assists (fifth with 35). He has a point in 20 of his last 25 games. … Fleury earned his 50th win with the Golden Knights.UP NEXTAvalanche: Open a four-game homestand Saturday vs. Chicago.Golden Knights: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Tampa Bay Lightning are well aware of the dangers of waiting until January or February to start making a playoff push.Perhaps that’s why they often take care of business, and in an emphatic way, well before that.The Arizona Coyotes, whose inability to reach the playoffs is in direct contrast to the Lightning’s frequent playoff success, know all too well how a season can get away from a team in October.Article continues below ...The Lightning, off to their usual strong start Custom Calgary Flames Jerseys , will take a seven-game points streak into Gila River Arena to play the Coyotes on Saturday night. It’s the second half of a back-to-back for the Lightning, who won their third in a row by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.Tyler Johnson, Brayden Point and J.T. Miller scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves.“Our goaltender was there when we needed him and recorded a big win in a tough spot on the road,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He was in the zone again and was tracking pucks, and our guys were good with letting him see pucks. You can get the shots, but if he can see them, he’ll usually stop them.”Victor Hedman, the Lightning’s star defenseman, sustained an undisclosed injury midway through the first period and didn’t return. He is not expected to play Saturday, but Cooper doesn’t think his injury will be long term.The Lightning are 7-1-1 overall and 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Nothing new there for a team that opened up 9-1-1 and 16-3-2 last season and was 5-1 to start the 2016-17 season. They’ve used good beginnings to help them reach the Eastern Conference finals two of the last three seasons.The Coyotes, however, aren’t the team they were at the start of the last two NHL seasons — and that’s encouraging to coach Rick Tocchet and his players.Arizona opened up 1-10-1 last season and never recovered. The season before that, the Coyotes lost five of their first six. This season www.officialhurricanes.com , the Coyotes (4-5-0) have won two in a row — the first time in three Octobers they’ve done that — and three of four. Much of the reason for the Coyotes’ improvement is their goaltending, with both starter Antti Raanta (2-4, 2.32 goals-against average) and backup Darcy Kuemper (2-1, 1.34) playing well to date.“We’ve gotten excellent goaltending, right from the start of the year, and it’s really helped us,” Tocchet said Friday. “We’re still giving up some Grade-A chances, and we’ll try to eliminate that, but the goalies have been really good. They’re giving us a chance to win every night.”Raanta sat out the last two games with flu-like symptoms, and Kuemper stepped in to make 62 saves on 64 shots as the Coyotes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, both by 4-1 scores.The Coyotes’ season quickly came apart last season when Raanta missed much of the first half of the season with three different injuries and Tocchet and general manager John Chayka couldn’t find a suitable backup. They tried Louis Domingue, Scott Wedgewood and Adin Hill without success, with Dominque going 0-6 with a 4.33 goals-against average and an .856 save percentage.But once Raanta was healthy during the second half of the season, his 2.24 goals-against average and .930 save percentage were the best in the NHL for goaltenders who played as much as he did. And Chayka not only picked up the reliable Kuemper in a late-season trade with the Los Angeles Kings Carolina Hurricanes T-Shirts Authentic , he signed Raanta and Kuemper to multi-year contracts.Coincidentally, Domingue landed with the Lightning despite his horrid statistics with Arizona, and he’ll start Saturday night against his former team.The Coyotes also appear to have solved their early-season scoring issues. They were shut out in three of their first four games, including their first two home games, but they’ve scored 15 goals in the past four games.“We didn’t score in the first few games, but we knew if we stuck with it the goals would come in bunches, and that’s kind of happened,” forward Brendan Perlini said.The Lightning and Coyotes split their two-game season series in 2017-18, with each team winning in the other’s building.