DENVER — Dylan Coghlan scored his first playoff goal to get Vegas rolling, Carter Hart made 36 saves and the Golden Knights opened the Western Conference Final by holding off the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Golden Knights seize early momentum
Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden also scored for the Golden Knights, who took advantage of several defensive miscommunications by the Avalanche as they juggled their blue-line pairings with Cale Makar sidelined by an upper-body injury.
Coghlan scored his first NHL goal since Dec. 17, 2021. The 28-year-old defenseman spent most of the season in the American Hockey League.
"When you say Dylan Coghlan to me, I think of no fear," Vegas coach John Tortorella said. "I think he's one of our best defensemen since he's been with us and in the lineup. He's a bit unflappable."
Avalanche rally falls short
Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Colorado made it 3-2 with 2:21 remaining on a power-play goal from Gabriel Landeskog. Nic Dowd sealed it for Vegas with an empty-net goal.
Valeri Nichushkin had a goal at 5:53 of the third to make it 3-1.
"We know they've got a lot of skill on their team, and we respect that," Hart said. "But you can't respect them too much, and I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space."
Makar's absence impacts Avalanche
The Avalanche tried some different combinations without Makar. It led to some confusion, with Coghlan sneaking into the middle of the ice and lining a shot through the pads of Wedgewood to break a scoreless game in the second period.
"There's definitely a trickle-down effect to that," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of not having Makar. "But he's not playing. We have to find a way."
"It was kind of a nothing game, and then they got a few goals," Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. "Really good team, obviously, but I thought we did a lot of damage to ourselves. Just guys kind of everywhere. Execution, like I said, needs to be better. Obviously, we're capable of being a lot better than that."
Series preview
The Golden Knights and Avalanche are meeting in a best-of-seven series for the second time. In 2021, Colorado won the opening two games of their second-round series before Vegas captured four straight.
Game 2 is Friday night in Denver.