2 Avalanche most to blame for Game 1 loss to Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights walked into Ball Arena on Wednesday night and shockingly took down the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 to take the series lead. It felt like the Avalanche were on a collision course to become the Stanley Cup Champions after dominating the Minnesota Wild in the second round. However, they now face some adversity for the first time in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Carter Hart stole the show for the Golden Knights, stopping 36 shots, many of them of the showstopping variety, and earning the game’s first star. If Vegas is going to win this series, they’ll need Hart to outduel either Scott Wedgewood or MacKenzie Blackwood if Jared Bednar ends up changing starters by the end of this series.

The Avalanche can take a bit of solace in knowing that they owned play in the third period and nearly mounted an unlikely comeback. If Colorado believes that Hart won’t continue to play that well all series, and that Cale Makar will be back soon from his injury, there is no reason to believe they can’t come back in this series.

The offense looked disjointed without their superstar defenseman, and an already shaky powerplay wasn’t the same with Devon Toews quarterbacking it. With the team now facing a 1-0 deficit, there were two Avalanche players most to blame for the Game 1 loss.

Scott Wedgewood was just fine for Avalanche

Wedgewood made the easy saves in Colorado’s loss, but the Avalanche could’ve used him to come up with a couple of more big stops to get this game over the finish line. The first goal from Dylan Coghlan was the most disappointing, as the defender, who lacks a scoring touch, walked down the shooting lane without much pressure from Colorado’s defense but slid a shot through the five-hole. It wasn’t an easy save to make, but in a 0-0 game, it was one that Wedgewood needed to have.

DYLAN COGHLAN!

His first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs opens the scoring in the Western Conference Final!

: @espn, @Sportsnet, & @TVASports pic.twitter.com/dK3EByzJhG

— NHL (@NHL) May 21, 2026

Wedgewood stopped just 24 of 27 shots in the loss, putting him well below his save percentage of .921 during the postseason. He might not need to perform as well as that over the course of this series to win, but they’ll need him to be a bit better than Wednesday night.

Brock Nelson has to be better in Game 2

Brock Nelson’s presence for an entire season was one of the main factors that propelled the Avalanche to the President’s Trophy and made them the odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup. He recorded 65 points for one of the best seasons of his career, but his two-way presence also earned him the first NHL Award honor of his career with a nomination for the Selke Trophy.

Nelson fired four shots at the net to add to the onslaught on Hart, but he was on the ice for three of the Golden Knights’ even-strength goals (one into an empty net). The goals weren’t completely his fault, but the best defensive forward on the team losing his matchup that badly is a double-edged sword for the Avalanche.

It’s a bad sign that the Golden Knights did it to Nelson, but there’s also an argument that he won’t have a game any worse than that, and the Avalanche were still within a goal of tying it late. Colorado may have lost the home-ice advantage they earned, but it isn’t time to panic just yet.

The post 2 Avalanche most to blame for Game 1 loss to Golden Knights appeared first on ClutchPoints.