DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche opened the Western Conference Final without superstar defenseman Cale Makar on Wednesday night, and the difference was noticeable in a 4-2 Game 1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at Ball Arena.
Colorado pushed late with third-period goals from Valeri Nichushkin and captain Gabriel Landeskog, but Vegas controlled much of the game and capitalized on their opportunities to take an early series lead.
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First Period
The opening 20 minutes were scoreless, though both teams generated quality chances.
Vegas entered the night having scored in the first period in each of its previous four playoff games, but Scott Wedgewood helped keep the Golden Knights off the board early. The Avalanche goaltender made several key saves in the first period, including a strong stop on a dangerous Vegas rush that energized the Ball Arena crowd.
Colorado had moments offensively, but the Avalanche struggled to consistently break through Vegas’ structure without Makar in the lineup. The Golden Knights controlled stretches of possession and kept Colorado from establishing much sustained pressure.
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Second Period
Vegas broke through midway through the second period when depth defenseman Dylan Coghlan converted on a rush chance and scored his first goal of the postseason to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
A few minutes later, Pavel Dorofeyev added to the advantage on a power-play goal after a slick setup from Mitch Marner, extending the lead to 2-0. It was his 10th score of the postseason giving the young sniper the NHL lead in goals.
Although Colorado held an edge in shots through two periods, Vegas looked sharper in transition and created the more dangerous scoring opportunities. The Avalanche continued searching for offense but struggled to generate consistent traffic around the net and looked slow for most of the night up to this point.
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Third Period
The Golden Knights pushed the lead to 3-0 midway through the third period on Brett Howden’s ninth goal of the playoffs, putting Colorado in its largest deficit of the postseason. He evaded coverage and batted a rebound out of the air before getting his stick on the puck for a legal goal.
The Avalanche responded later in the period when Val Nichushkin scored on a between-the-legs finish to cut the lead to 3-1 and bring some life back into the arena.
Now the momentum was really on Colorado’s side and they looked dangerous with the puck for the first time in the contest. With the goaltender pulled late in regulation after receiving a power play and executing the 6-on-4 attack, Gabe Landeskog added another goal with 2:20 remaining to trim the deficit to one and give Colorado a chance in the closing minutes.
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With Wedgewood on the bench again Vegas answered shortly after when Nic Dowd beat out an icing and scored into the empty net to seal the 4-2 Vegas win.
Takeaways
Missing such an important piece as Cale Makar was a factor in the loss and every day that goes by will ramp up the hope that he can return to play soon. The rest of the team was a bit scrambled and slow in their coverage and can correct some mistakes in their own right.
Jack Ahcan was inserted into the lineup again and played double the three minutes he received in Game 5 against Minnesota. He still was on the ice for a goal against in this game, though. The ailing defense core is thin on options and the Avalanche need to come up with some other solutions.
Upcoming
The rematch in Game 2 is scheduled for Friday night at Ball Arena with puck drop set for 6 p.m. local time.
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