DENVER (AP) 鈥� 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 4-2 on Wednesday night.
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.
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 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. He’s played the last five postseason games with the recent injury to Jeremy Lauzon.
鈥淲hen you say Dylan Coghlan to me, I think of no fear,鈥� Vegas coach John Tortorella said. 鈥淚 think he’s one of our best defensemen since he’s been with us and in the lineup. … He’s a bit unflappable.”
It was a smothering performance most of the game by the Golden Knights as they kept the pressure on goaltender Scott Wedgewood, while controlling the Avalanche’s speed through the neutral zone. Vegas also had 23 blocked shots.
鈥淲e didn’t play a flawless game by any means,鈥� Tortorella said. 鈥淲e have work to do.鈥�
Valeri Nichushkin had a goal at 5:53 of the third to make it 3-1.
Hart was stellar most of the evening, making one sprawling save after another. He got some help from his post, too, when Logan O鈥機onnor’s liner clanged off it in the first period.
鈥淲e know they’ve got a lot of skill on their team, and we respect that,鈥� Hart said. 鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 respect them too much, and I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space.鈥�
Mitch Marner added an assist for Vegas to give him 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in this postseason. It was Dorofeyev鈥檚 NHL-leading 10th goal of this postseason. The Golden Knights didn鈥檛 have injured captain Mark Stone.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to play our game, not worrying too much about countering off another team,” Tortorella explained. “They feel very comfortable in it.鈥�
Game 2 is Friday night in Denver.
The Avalanche dropped their first game at home after winning five straight through the first two rounds. Wedgewood made 24 saves.
鈥淚t was kind of a nothing game, and then they got a few goals,鈥� 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鈥檙e capable of being a lot better than that.鈥�
Colorado 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.
鈥淭here’s definitely a trickle-down effect to that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of not having Makar. 鈥淏ut he’s not playing. We have find a way.鈥�
Coghlan has bounced around over his career, spending his first two seasons with Vegas before stints with Carolina and Winnipeg. He returned to the Golden Knights last July in part, he said, because of the bonds he’d formed.
鈥淭his is probably the best I’ve felt in my whole career,鈥� said Coghlan, who played in three regular-season games for Vegas this season. 鈥淲hoever it is I’m playing with I’m very comfortable out there with them. They make it pretty easy on me. We have some pretty world-class players.鈥�
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.
鈥� Definitely things we can get better at,鈥� Landeskog said. 鈥淏ut we knew it was (going to) be a long series.鈥�
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