(Photo credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images)

After picking up three points in three games on a difficult Southern road trip, the Vegas Golden Knights return to Las Vegas to open a season-long six-game homestand with a Friday afternoon matinee against the Colorado Avalanche.

Halloween is also a state holiday known as Nevada Day, celebrating the anniversary of Nevada becoming the 36th state on Oct. 31, 1864. The Golden Knights have traditionally celebrated the holiday with an afternoon contest to allow kids that are off from school to be able to attend.

Considering the way the 2025-26 season has started, there also could be a Jack Eichel Day one day for Nevada residents.

Eichel finds himself in the early conversation for the Hart Trophy, which goes to the NHL's most valuable player, thanks to a league-leading 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in just 10 games.

Eichel celebrated his 29th birthday on Tuesday with two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist as Pacific Division-leading Vegas salvaged the finale of its three-game trip with a 6-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

The contest was tied 3-3 before Eichel scored on a breakaway with 4:59 to go. Eichel then made it 5-3 with a one-timer in the slot off an Ivan Barbashev feed with 2:24 remaining before Tomas Hertl sealed the win with an empty-netter, capping a four-goal third period for the Golden Knights.

'It was nice to get a win on the birthday and get out of here with two points and head home,' Eichel said. 'It was a great win for us.'

The trip started with a 3-0 loss at two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida, the team's first regulation loss of the season, and was followed by a 2-1 overtime loss at Tampa Bay.

Eichel gave credit to his teammates for his blistering start.

'The team is playing well,' he said. 'I play with some great players and have been the benefactor of some really good hockey and good plays. I'm just trying to stick with the process and help the team win hockey games. I think when you do that, sometimes you see some points come with it. It's a credit to the whole group. There's a lot of guys playing well.'

One of them is winger Pavel Dorofeyev, who also scored two goals in the win and entered Thursday tied for the league lead in goals with Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, Montreal's Cole Caufield and New Jersey's Jack Hughes with nine.

MacKinnon comes in off his 56th career multi-goal game in a wild 8-4 victory over New Jersey on Tuesday, snapping a four-game losing streak (0-1-3) for the Avalanche. MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, his 100th career three-point game. Defenseman Cale Makar added the third four-assist game of his career and Victor Olofsson, who played with the Golden Knights last season, had his first career hat trick to go with two assists.

'I think you've got to celebrate wins,' Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. 'They are hard to get in this league, and we did a lot of really good things (Tuesday).'

The Avalanche lost twice in overtime and once in a shootout during their four-game slide. Colorado has lost in regulation just once in 11 games this season, 3-2 to the Boston Bruins.

'We just want to build on this one especially and make sure that we continue to do the right things moving forward,' Makar said.

After Friday afternoon's contest, Colorado heads to San Jose for the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday afternoon.

--Field Level Media