{"id":1260,"date":"2026-05-21T05:03:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:03:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:03:41","slug":"golden-knights-roll-to-early-lead-hold-off-avs-4-2-to-open-western-conference-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1260","title":{"rendered":"Golden Knights roll to early lead, hold off Avs 4-2 to open Western Conference Final"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DENVER<\/strong> | 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s played the last five postseason games with the recent injury to Jeremy Lauzon.\n<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen you say Dylan Coghlan to me, I think of no fear,\u201d Vegas coach John Tortorella said. \u201cI think he\u2019s one of our best defensemen since he\u2019s been with us and in the lineup. \u2026 He\u2019s a bit unflappable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s speed through the neutral zone. Vegas also had 23 blocked shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t play a flawless game by any means,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cWe have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valeri Nichushkin had a goal at 5:53 of the third to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n

Hart was stellar most of the evening, making one sprawling save after another. He got some help from his post, too, when Logan O\u2019Connor\u2019s liner clanged off it in the first period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know they\u2019ve got a lot of skill on their team, and we respect that,\u201d Hart said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t respect them too much, and I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitch Marner added an assist for Vegas to give him 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in this postseason. It was Dorofeyev\u2019s NHL-leading 10th goal of this postseason. The Golden Knights didn\u2019t have injured captain Mark Stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to play our game, not worrying too much about countering off another team,\u201d Tortorella explained. \u201cThey feel very comfortable in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 2 is Friday night in Denver.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche dropped their first game at home after winning five straight through the first two rounds. Wedgewood made 24 saves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of a nothing game, and then they got a few goals,\u201d Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. \u201cReally 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re capable of being a lot better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a trickle-down effect to that,\u201d Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of not having Makar. \u201cBut he\u2019s not playing. We have find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019d formed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the best I\u2019ve felt in my whole career,\u201d said Coghlan, who played in three regular-season games for Vegas this season. \u201cWhoever it is I\u2019m playing with I\u2019m very comfortable out there with them. They make it pretty easy on me. We have some pretty world-class players.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201c Definitely things we can get better at,\u201d Landeskog said. \u201cBut we knew it was (going to) be a long series.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dylan Coghlan scored his first Stanley Cup 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[662],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avalanche"],"yoast_head":"\nGolden Knights roll to early lead, hold off Avs 4-2 to open Western Conference Final - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=1260\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Golden Knights roll to early lead, hold off Avs 4-2 to open Western Conference Final - 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