DENVER — Colorado worked all season to secure home-ice advantage for the postseason. The Vegas Golden Knights ripped it away from the Avalanche in the opener of the Western Conference finals.
Dylan Coghlan and Pavel Dorofeyev scored 2:33 apart in the second period, Carter Hart made 36 saves, and Vegas beat Colorado 4-2 in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Friday night in Denver, when the Golden Knights could take a commanding lead before heading home for two games.
“I think it’s sometimes easier for the away team in these types of situations to play,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “You can use it to your advantage. They understand the situation. It doesn’t need to be explained to them.”
Brett Howden also had a goal and Nic Dowd scored into an empty net for the Golden Knights, who withstood the Avalanche’s third-period rally.
Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog scored while Scott Wedgewood turned away 24 shots for Colorado, which trails in a series for the first time in this postseason.
“We weren’t sharp,” Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said. “(They’re) a really good team, but we did a lot of damage to ourself. Execution needs to be better, and we’re capable of being a lot better than that.”
Vegas captain Mark Stone (lower-body injury) and Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (upper body) were scratched.
Colorado felt Makar’s absence.
“He’s an important player, and he plays a lot,” coach Jared Bednar said of the two-time Norris Trophy winner. “Some of the areas we struggled with tonight, those are his strengths. He’s out there a lot with the MacKinnon line, there’s a trickle-down effect with that, but he’s not playing. So you have to find a way.”
Both teams had chances in a scoreless first period. Keegan Kolesar nearly gave the Golden Knights the lead on a partial breakaway early on. Logan O’Connor hit the post for the Avalanche, and Hart made a save on Nazem Kadri in the waning seconds of the period.
Vegas finally broke through at 12:29 of the second period. Brandon Saad sent a pass to Coghlan in the slot, and Coghlan sent a wrister through Wedgewood’s pads for his first career playoff goal.
Coghlan played in just three games during the regular season and didn’t break the postseason lineup until Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks in the second round. He made his first playoff goal count.
“It was pretty crazy,” Coghlan said. “Honestly, I didn’t know it went in until I turned and looked at Shea (Theodore) and he smiled at me. I kind of blacked out for a second.”
Colorado’s Ross Colton was whistled for a roughing penalty less than two minutes later, and the Golden Knights took advantage. Mitch Marner stretched out with the puck and whipped a pass to Dorofeyev coming down the right side. Dorofeyev sent a one-timer to the short side past Wedgewood at 15:02, his 10th goal of the playoffs.
Vegas made it 3-0 early in the third after killing off a Colorado power play. Howden knocked down the rebound of Ben Hutton’s shot with his glove and tapped the puck by Wedgewood at 1:34.
The Avalanche answered at 5:53 when Nichushkin redirected Colton’s pass beyond Hart.
Wedgewood came off when Colorado went on the power play at 16:52, and Landeskog cut the deficit to one at 17:39.
“We had that belief the whole game,” Landeskog said. “Going into the third, even though they got one early after our power play, we still had lots of belief. We know we (have) plenty of offensive game in us to create some scoring chances, give us some good looks.”
The Avalanche pulled Wedgwood again, but Dowd sealed it into an empty net at 19:15.
–Field Level Media
