The Golden Knights extend their season-opening points streak, the Sharks give up 10 goals again, and much more as we recap a busy Saturday in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

NHL.COM: The Vegas Golden Knights extended their season-opening points streak to 12 games by blanking the Colorado Avalanche 7-0. Golden Knights captain Mark Stone scored two shorthanded goals and collected two assists, Jack Eichel and William Karlsson each tallied twice while Adin Hill kicked out 41 shots for the shutout. Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves for the 7-3-0 Avalanche while the league-leading Golden Knights sit at 11-0-1.

Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: No sign of any Stanley Cup hangover yet for the Golden Knights thus far. Some of those victories came against lesser opponents like the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks but they’ve also played well against good clubs like the Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, and Winnipeg Jets.

Four-point performances from Jake Guentzel, Reilly Smith and Bryan Rust powered the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 10-2 drubbing of the San Jose Sharks. Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson collected two assists against his former club, Evgeni Malkin tallied twice and Sidney Crosby collected an assist in his 1,200th career NHL regular-season game. Tomas Hertl, Anthony Duclair and Jacob MacDonald each had two points for the Sharks as they sank to 0-10-1 on the season while the Penguins are 4-6-0.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sharks became the first team since the 1965-66 Boston Bruins to give up 10 goals in consecutive games as they also lost 10-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Buffalo Sabres winger Alex Tuch scored twice in the third period to lift his club over the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 6-4. The Sabres improved their record to 6-6-0. Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews regained the NHL goal-scoring lead (11) by netting his third hat trick of the season while Mitch Marner had a four-point night. The Leafs sit at 5-4-2 on the season.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Matthews is tied with Rick Vaive for the fourth-most hat tricks (10) in Leafs history. He’s netted three this season in 11 games, joining Cy Denneny and Babe Dye (four), Newsy Lalonde (five), Joe Malone (seven) and Odie Cleghorn (10) among the players requiring the fewest games in NHL history to net three hat tricks in a single season.

Earlier in the day, the Leafs placed defenseman Timothy Liljegren (lower body) on long-term injury reserve (LTIR). Meanwhile, Sabres forward Dylan Cozens missed this game with an upper-body injury.

The Nashville Predators defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2. Predators center Ryan O’Reilly netted a hat trick, Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists and Kevin Lankinen stopped 33 shots for the 5-6-0 Predators. Darnell Nurse and Zach Hyman replied for the Oilers as they dropped to 2-7-1.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers now have the second-worst record in the NHL. Changes could be coming soon if this club fails to snap out of its tailspin. I’ll have more about that in the Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup. Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh missed this contest with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day.

Winnipeg Jets forward Nino Niederreiter’s hat trick powered his club to a 5-3 comeback victory over the Arizona Coyotes. Brenden Dillon had a goal and two assists for the Jets as they moved to 5-4-2. Lawson Crouse had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes (5-5-1), who held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 during this game but couldn’t close the deal.

The Detroit Red Wings held off the Boston Bruins 5-4 to snap the latter’s 10-game points streak. David Perron had a goal and two assists while Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond each had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings as they improved to 7-4-1. David Pastrnak, James van Riemsdyk and rookie Matthew Poitras each tallied a goal and an assist for the 9-1-1 Bruins, who still sit atop the Eastern Conference with 19 points.

Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Brayden Point (three goals, one assist) and Nikita Kucherov (one goal, four assists) led the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Ottawa Senators 6-4, boosting their record to 5-3-3. Senators captain Brady Tkachuk scored twice and collected an assist as his club sank to 4-6-0, putting them at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Following the game, Tkachuk took issue with Senators fans booing his club’s performance. “It’s frustrating, the negativity from the outside, the constant booing and the bullshit, kind of, from the crowd tonight,” he said. The Ottawa captain added that he understood their frustration but felt that he and his teammates are playing as hard as they can in every game.

The Washington Capitals got a 34-save performance from goaltender Charlie Lindgren to hold off the Columbus Blues Jackets 2-1. Tom Wilson and Sonny Milano scored for the 5-4-1 Capitals while Dmitri Voronkov replied for the Blue Jackets as they fell to 4-5-2.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blue Jackets left wing Johnny Gaudreau was benched during the final 16 minutes of the third period. Head coach Pascal Vincent wasn’t pleased with his performance, claiming he felt that Gaudreau “wasn’t there” during this contest. That’s a pretty obvious shot across the bow by Vincent against his highest-paid player.

Meanwhile, Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk left this game early in the first period with a lower-body injury. There was no update on his status following the game.

Los Angeles Kings goalie Cam Talbot had a 24-save shutout in a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Quinton Byfield collected three assists while Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore each had a goal and an assist for the Kings as they moved up to 7-2-2. Cal Petersen allowed five goals on 30 shots from his former team as the Flyers fell to 5-6-1.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Flyers shifted defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen to LTIR with an undisclosed injury.

The Carolina Hurricanes overcame a 3-0 deficit to nip the New York Islanders 4-3 on an overtime goal by Sebastian Aho. Andrei Svechnikov and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each collected two points for the Hurricanes (7-5-0). Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat each had two points and Ilya Sorokin stopped 43 shots for the 5-2-3 Islanders.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech missed this game as he’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Chicago Blackhawks rookie Conor Bedard scored for the third straight game in a 5-2 upset of the Florida Panthers. Philipp Kurashev had a goal and two assists while Petr Mrazek turned aside 38 shots for the 4-6-0 Blackhawks. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Matthew Tkachuk replied for the Panthers as they sit at 5-4-1.

The St. Louis Blues got a goal and two assists each from Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn to beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-3. With the win, the Blues improved to 5-4-1. Juraj Slafkovsky, Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki replied for the 5-4-2 Canadiens.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens center Christian Dvorak made his season debut after being sidelined by a knee injury since March 7. He saw 14:53 of ice time and was held scoreless.

A shootout goal by Matt Boldy lifted the Minnesota Wild (4-5-2) to a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers (8-2-1), snapping the latter’s six-game win streak. Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist in regulation as the Wild overcame a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead before the Rangers’ Chris Kreider tied it in the third period. Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist as the Rangers winger extended his season-opening points streak to 11 games.

The Calgary Flames snapped a six-game losing skid by defeating the Seattle Kraken 6-3. Mikael Backlund scored twice and rookie Martin Pospisil scored his first NHL goal on his first shot for the 3-7-1 Flames. Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen and Jaden Schwartz replied for the 4-6-2 Kraken.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Flames winger Andrew Mangiapane was ejected from this game in the first period for cross-checking Jared McCann in the upper back while the Kraken forward was lying on the ice after blocking a shot.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko made 27 saves in a 2-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars. Pius Suter and Elias Pettersson were the goal scorers as the Canucks now sit at 8-2-1 on the season. Joel Oettinger stopped 26 shots for the 7-2-1 Stars.