Postgame: Avalanche Drop Game 1 to Vegas, Trail In Playoffs For First Time
· Yahoo Sports
The Colorado Avalanche are trailing in a playoff series for the first time.
After losing just once through the first two rounds, the Avs dropped Game 1 of the Western Conference Final to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday, falling 4-2 at Ball Arena. The Knights lead the series 1-0.
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Valeri Nichushkin and Gabe Landeskog had Colorado’s goals, and they came in the third period after Vegas had already put three past Scott Wedgewood. Cale Makar and Mark Stone both did not play.
Wedgewood finished with 24 saves, as the Avalanche outshot Vegas 38-28. Carter Hart was strong in his first conference final appearance, finishing with 36 saves.
“I thought it was good at times and not good enough at others,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “Liked the start of the game, good energy, good pace, thought we faded away for 20 minutes in there. … I didn’t love our puck play tonight, our execution coming out of our zone, through the neutral zone a little bit, even O-zone play. We gave them a handful of odd-man rushes that came off our turnovers and missed execution, even if we were doing the right thing.”
The Golden Knights’ opening goal came from an unlikely player. Defenseman Dylan Coghlan finished a play off a drop pass from Brandon Saad, scoring his first goal in more than five years to make it 1-0 past the midway point in regulation. Coghlan beat Wedgewood five-hole with 7:31 remaining in the second. It was also his first career playoff goal.
The Knights added to their lead before the break thanks to a power play goal. Ross Colton was called for roughing after getting his glove up into the face of Rasmus Andersson in front of the Vegas net. Just 46 seconds later, Pavel Dorofeyev capitalized on a one-timer from between the hash marks off a setup from Mitch Marner. His 10th of the postseason made it 2-0 with 4:48 remaining.
It wasn’t necessarily all Vegas after that, but the Avalanche couldn’t hit the net. They had several good looks that missed the net, including a one-timer on the power play from Devon Toews that went high. Brock Nelson had one earlier at even strength that also went wide.
Colorado eventually got a power play late that carried into the third period. It ended up being the game-changing sequence in Vegas’ favor. RIght before the conclusion of the power play, Sam Malinski attempted a point shot that was blocked by a defender and deflected right to Ben Hutton just as he exited the box.
Hutton caught the puck and instantly skated in on a two-on-one. His shot was saved, but Brett Howden scored on the rebound, extending the Knights’ lead to 3-0 at the 1:34 mark — only nine seconds after Hutton’s penalty ended.
It was a perfect game for Hart to that point, but the Avalanche eventually broke the shutout bid with a goal from the third line. Nichushkin started to gain steam as he skated into the offensive zone. He sent a pass to Colton on the wing and kept going to the net. Colton found Nichushkin for the give-and-go and he redirected it past Hart with his stick between his legs.
Coghlan was defending the play and collided with Shea Theodore, allowing Nichushking the space to get to the crease. It was Nichushkin’s first even-strength goal of the postseason.
Another penalty was called on the Knights with 3:08 remaining. It was the only power play Colorado had all night that wasn’t split between periods, and they got a big goal to make things interesting. Bednar pulled Wedgewood right away, setting up a 6-on-4 attack. Just 47 seconds later, a pass from MacKinnon to Landeskog led to the captain’s third goal of the postseason, making it a one-goal game.
Colorado finished 1-for-3 on the man advantage and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Avs tried to overcome another three-goal deficit but it was too little, too late. Nic Dowd scored on the empty net after one final look from Toews in the slot.
“You’re gonna have to play a full 60, better than we did tonight,” Bednar said. “Especially with the puck.”
Good: Late Goals Spark Life In Offense… Maybe?
We’ve often heard players say after a postseason win that they have to celebrate quickly before flushing it and preparing for the next one. When a team suffers a bad loss, we usually hear something similar.
Take the Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Wild as an example. The Wild pretty much controlled that game from start to finish, and at no point did it feel like the Avs had it. They flushed it and rebounded in a big way two nights later.
But this wasn’t like that. Coming down to the room, I wondered if, given how that game ended, there were any positives to take leading into Game 2? Does it help that they got two past Hart and didn’t get shutout? Does the power-play goal add confidence? The late surge?
That was the question I wanted to ask MacKinnon postgame, but he didn’t let me finish. Unfortunately, he was the only player I was able to speak to.
But I really do wonder how players look at these kinds of losses. Moral victories don’t matter in the playoffs, but does it give you something to build on?
"I've just said execution like 5 times."
— DNVR Avalanche (@DNVR_Avalanche) May 21, 2026
A frustrated Nathan MacKinnon after the Avs Game 1 loss 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/2ZAaZ0yW14
Bad: The First Goal
The Avalanche made several mistakes that allowed Coghlan to have as much time and space as he did to shoot the puck. But you still need Wedgewood to make that save.
Wedgewood had been great to that point, making several huge stops to keep the game scoreless. His best was the backdoor play from Brett Howden on a setup from Mitch Marner. You can’t let that shot, from a player that doesn’t score goals, beat you five hole.
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