NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Golden Knights steal Game 1 of Western Conference Finals over Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche breezed through to the Western Conference Finals. They went 8-1 in sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in four games and winning 4-1 in the second round over the Minnesota Wild. Could things be the same against the Vegas Golden Knights?

For at least one game, the answer would be no as Carter Hart made 36 saves and the Golden Knights scored the first three goals of the game to steal the opening game in Denver 4-2. 

"We know they're a good team and they have a lot of skill on their team," Hart said. "We respect that, but we can't respect them too much. I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space, and I thought we blocked a lot of shots and got in a lot of lanes and tied up some sticks."

After a scoreless first period, Vegas kicked things into gear about halfway into the second. At the 12:29 mark,  Dylan Coghlan scored his first career playoff goal to open the scoring to give the Golden Knights the lead, and they never looked back. Shortly thereafter, Pavel Dorofeyev scored his NHL-leading 10th goal of the postseason. 

Vegas opened the scoring in the third at the 1:34 mark as Brett Howden scored his ninth goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Colorado attempted to come back with goals by Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog. But Hart stonewalled the Avalanche the remainder of the game to give the Golden Knights an early edge in the series. 

"I thought we'd put some good minutes in tonight when we had the puck," Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. "Where we struggled is when you turn the puck over against that team or don't get it in at a certain time, or they get a second opportunity when you don't get it out, they're dangerous.

"Those are the things we need to improve on."

Game 2 is Friday night back in Denver. 

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