The Golden Knights did not get the message that the Avs were to be feared on home ice.
Vegas stunned Colorado to open the Western Conference Final on Wednesday at Ball Arena, stealing Game 1 in a 4-2 victory. A journeyman who spent most of the season in the AHL, Dylan Coghlan, scored the Golden Knights’ first goal and Vegas goalie Carter Hart was a wall with 36 saves.
So much for home ice advantage for the Avs, who were 5-0 in Denver in the playoffs coming into the game and only lost nine times here in regulation during the regular season.
“We know they’re a good team, and we know they’ve got a lot of skill on their team. And we respect that,” Hart said. “But you can’t respect them too much.
“I thought we did a really good job of defending, of limiting their time in space. We blocked a lot of shots tonight, got in a lot of shooting lanes and tied up some sticks.”
Colorado outshot Vegas 38-28, but the Golden Knights blocked 23 shots to the Avs’ 11, and the Avs couldn’t crack Hart until it was too little, too late in the third period.
Along the way, the Avs had a shot ping off the post, outright missed the net on a handful of solid scoring opportunities and Hart took care of the rest. He made a stellar sliding glove save off a Nazem Kadri wrister at the buzzer of the second period, then stifled the Avs late in the third period as Colorado was down 3-2 and pressing for an equalizer.
“Not much bothers him,” Vegas head coach John Tortorella said of Hart. “He’s zeroed in, and he’s going to have to be because we’ve got a little bit of work to do here.”
Coghlan, who has only played in 10 regular-season NHL games over the past three seasons, took the juice out of Ball Arena when he came right down center ice and lit the lamp in an odd-man rush midway through the second period.
It was the defenseman’s first career playoff goal, and it epitomized the way Vegas was able to bottle momentum despite a sold-out, maroon-clad crowd of 18,109 behind the home team.
“I kind of just blacked out for a second,” Coghlan said. “I saw an opportunity to jump in the rush with a few guys behind me. … This is probably the best I’ve felt in my whole career.”
Tortorella was good with a 0-0 score after one period, and says that in some ways, the raucous road environment played in his team’s favor.
“It’s sometimes easier for the away team, in these types of situations, to play. You can use it to your advantage,” Tortorella said. “Great building tonight. (Our team) understands the situation — it doesn’t need to be explained to them. They’re prepared and expect what’s going to happen before it comes their way.
“… In this type of situation where (the Avs) try to blitz you, I thought our first period was good. It was a good road period for us.”
Vegas has the three leading offensive players in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Mitch Marner is pacing the field with 18 points, Pavel Dorofeyev has nine goals and Brett Howden has eight. Dorofeyev and Howden both scored on Wednesday, and Marner had an assist.
Marner noted that after beating Utah in six games in the opening round and then Anaheim in six games in the Western Conference Semifinal, the Golden Knights came into Wednesday with “confidence from our last two series.” But Marner also realizes the Avs’ sense of urgency will be heightened in Friday’s Game 2 at Ball Arena.
“It’s going to get tougher, and we know that,” Marner said.
