The Colorado Avalanche are down 2-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights after two periods in Game 1.
The Avalanche dictated the pace of play early in the opening period. While there weren’t many shots on goal, several players made their presence felt physically right from the start.
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At the 6:27 mark, Scott Wedgewood came up with a tremendous save on a 2-on-1 rush. Tomas Hertl then tried to jam home the rebound from his knees but missed the net.
On the ensuing faceoff, Nathan MacKinnon won the draw, but Devon Toews mishandled the puck behind the net, leading to a turnover for Jack Eichel. Wedgewood denied Eichel on a pair of chances before Colorado was finally able to clear the zone.
Colorado later killed off a penalty after Brent Burns was sent to the box for hooking Vegas forward Brandon Saad at 9:02.
With 4:45 remaining in the period, Logan O’Connor took a pass just beyond the red line, entered the Golden Knights’ zone, slammed on the brakes, and fired a wrister that rang off the left post, keeping the game scoreless.
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Ivan Barbashev was penalized late in the period for holding Sam Malinski, giving Colorado its first power play opportunity of the night.
After 20 minutes, the game remained scoreless, with both teams recording 10 shots on goal.
Colorado began the second period with 1:10 remaining on the power play but was unable to capitalize.
At the 6:45 mark, Wedgewood made another highlight-reel stop, robbing Vegas forward Brett Howden at the top of the crease. The 28-year-old entered Game 1 with eight goals and two assists for 10 points in 12 playoff games.
Vegas broke the deadlock at 12:30 when Dylan Coghlan took a pass from Brandon Saad and snapped a wrister through Wedgewood’s five-hole to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
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Ross Colton was later penalized for roughing with 5:44 left in the period after a shove on Rasmus Andersson during a post-whistle scrum.
Unfortunately for Colorado, Vegas capitalized on the ensuing power play to extend the lead to 2-0. Mitch Marner spun away from pressure before feeding Pavel Dorofeyev, who caught Wedgewood out of position and buried the chance.
Much like the opening period, Vegas took a late penalty when Ben Hutton was sent off for tripping Valeri Nichushkin.
The Avalanche headed into the second intermission trailing 2-0 despite holding a 25-20 advantage in shots on goal. Colorado will begin the third period with 1:25 remaining on the power play.
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Brett Howden scored his ninth goal of the postseason at 1:34 when he backhanded a rebound by Wedgewood off an initial shot from Ben Hutton to triple the lead. 4:19 later, Valeri Nichushkin redirected a shot between his legs off a Ross Colton wrist shot from the right circle to put the Avalanche on the board. However, there was still a mountain to climb.
Gabe Landeskog scored with 2:20 remaining in regulation to make it a 3-2 game. Could we be seeing a repeat of Game 5?
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