Golden Knights roll to early lead, hold off Avs 4-2 to open Western Conference Final

DENVER (AP) — 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.

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 the win for Vegas on an empty-net goal with 44.5 seconds left.

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. He’s played the last five playoff games with the recent injury to Jeremy Lauzon.

It was a smothering performance by the Golden Knights as they kept the pressure on Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood, while controlling the Avalanche’s speed through the neutral zone. Vegas also had 23 blocked shots.

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’Connor’s liner clanged off it in the first period.

Mitch Marner added an assist for Vegas to give him 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in this postseason. It was Dorofeyev’s league-leading 10th goal of this postseason. The Golden Knights didn’t have injured captain Mark Stone.

Game 2 is Friday night.

The Avalanche dropped their first game at home after winning five straight through the first two rounds. Wedgewood made 24 saves.

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.

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.

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.

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Pat Graham, The Associated Press