The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final late Wednesday night in Denver. Vegas goaltender Carter Hart stopped 36 of 38 shots, helping his team hand the Presidents’ Trophy winners their first home loss of the postseason.
Colorado entered the series as heavy favorites after dominating the regular season with 121 points and rolling to an 8-1 record through the first two playoff rounds against Los Angeles and Minnesota. Vegas, by contrast, only secured a playoff spot following a late 7-0-1 surge when John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy as head coach on March 29. The Golden Knights carried that momentum through the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks to reach the Conference Final.
Defenseman Dylan Coghlan opened the scoring for Vegas in the second period. This was his first career playoff goal and his first NHL goal of any kind since December 17, 2021. Pavel Dorofeyev added his NHL-leading 10th goal of the postseason to extend the lead. Brett Howden and an empty-netter from Nic Dowd completed the scoring for Vegas. Mitch Marner picked up an assist on the night, bringing his playoff total to 19 points as the underdog roster continued to play with swagger on the road.
Colorado pushed back late in the third period with goals from Valeri Nichushkin and a power-play strike from Gabriel Landeskog, but fell short. Both teams played without their top stars. Vegas captain Mark Stone missed the game with a lower-body injury, while Colorado defenseman Cale Makar was ruled out with an undisclosed upper-body issue.
The absence of Makar severely exposed the Avalanche defense. Colorado head coach Jared Bednar noted a “trickle-down effect” on the blue line resulting from the injury. The forced juggling of defensive pairings led directly to miscommunications that allowed Vegas to control the neutral zone and set up Coghlan’s ice-splitting goal.
This matchup marks the second time these franchises have met in the postseason. They last clashed in the 2021 second round, where Colorado won the first two games at home before Vegas rallied to win four straight. Vegas now leads the best-of-seven series 1-0. Game 2 is scheduled for Friday in Denver.