3 Takeaways from the Avalanche’s 4-2 Game 1 Loss to the Golden Knights

When the Colorado Avalanche put the finishing touches on their series with the Minnesota Wild, nothing had really changed in terms of everyone’s predictions. Granted, no one saw them dispatching the Wild in five games, but it just underscored how good the Avalanche can be.

Coming in confident, the Avalanche were favorites to win Game 1 of their series with the Vegas Golden Knights. Unfortunately for them, the Golden Knights didn’t get the memo. Vegas walked into Denver and took a critical Game 1 win 4-2 in front of a shocked home crowd.

The Golden Knights Won the Goaltending Battle

Of all the factors the Avalanche needed to address coming into the series, it was imperative that they not fall behind in terms of goaltending. The Golden Knights’ Carter Hart has been a difference-maker for them, but the Avalanche have the luxury of having two very good goaltenders.

Unfortunately, the thing the Avalanche were fearing came true in Game 1. Hart was outstanding, turning aside 36 of 38 Avalanche shots (and it would have been 37 if Rasmus Andersson hadn’t gotten a stick on Gabriel Landeskog’s goal) and being definitively better than Scott Wedgewood.

The goal by Dylan Coghlan was soft no matter how you slice it and the killer from Brett Howden came because Wedgewood gave up a juicy rebound that Howden made a fantastic play on. If the Avalanche are going to win this series, Wedgewood cannot be getting outplayed by Hart.

The Makar Effect

Perhaps the biggest thing to come out from the leadup to Game 1 was the fact that Cale Makar was absent due to injury. Makar is apparently dealing with some kind of upper-body injury suffered in the Game 5 win over the Wild.

Makar’s absence was very evident in Game 1. The power play didn’t have the same movement to it with him not there. The Avalanche tried a few different things to replace him and just couldn’t get it done.

If Makar is going to be absent, the Avalanche need to make an adjustment. They generated plenty of shots and chances in Game 1 but never really seemed to find their flow. When you’re missing the best defenseman on the planet, it’s going to have a negative impact.

Vegas Swagger

One of the things you notice about the Golden Knights immediately is that they play with a certain level of confidence. Both teams have won Stanley Cups recently, and it can be a bit easy to forget that considered the struggles the Golden Knights had during the regular season.

The Avalanche typically go into a game knowing they are definitively the better team. This time, it felt like the Golden Knights walked into this one knowing they could win the game, and that level of confidence certainly helped.

Knowing that Makar would be out of the lineup may have played a psychological difference, but the Golden Knights were able to play their game, and it fed their confidence level. The Avalanche will need to get on the board early to help mitigate that.

On to Game 2

The simple thing to do is write off Game 1 and move on. Few teams run through the playoffs in a dominant fashion and fans may have a hard time remembering that this is just the second time the Avalanche have lost in these playoffs.

Even if Makar misses Game 2, the Avalanche are good enough that they should still be the favorite. There are other areas in which they need to get better and they need to find a way to get on Hart early.