An unlikely hero propels the Golden Knights to a nailbiter victory in Game 1 against Colorado

I won't lie: I was nervous coming into this one. To be blunt, the Colorado Avalanche are a really, really good team, even without Cale Makar. Add in all the boasting of the past few days about the Pacific's inferiority, the Avs being the first "real" team Vegas has faced, and the outside noise of the whole Cassidy/draft pick messes, and I wasn't feeling too great.

Thankfully, that all dissipated quickly on Wednesday night, as the Golden Knights shocked the NHL by jumping out to a 3-0 lead, and hanging on just enough to take Game 1 in Denver. Though it got dicey towards the end, the guys in gold locked in enough to get a critical tone-setting win and take home-ice advantage with it. Let's break down how Vegas felled the metaphorical giant and caused Colorado's first home loss of the playoffs.

Have a day, Dylan Coghlan and depth scorers

Everyone knows the playoff run Mitch Marner has been on. Equally so for Jack Eichel, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Brett Howden.

But... those four only factored in on two of the night's four goals, with one point each. The rest went to some un- and under-heralded Golden Knights, who stepped up massively when needed. Most notably among them, fill-in defenseman turned playoff regular Dylan Coghlan. Coghlan, who only entered the lineup due to Jeremy Lauzon's injury, potted his first NHL goal in over 1,600 days, going five-hole from the slot on Scott Wedgewood and giving Vegas critical momentum with a 1-0 lead.

That marks his first career playoff goal, his first point of any kind since an assist with Carolina in January 2023, and his first goal since December 17, 2021, in a 3-2 Golden Knights win over the Rangers. Yep, that's correct: it's been over four full seasons and two other teams since the last one, also in a Vegas uniform during his first tenure. Needless to say, in scoring the opening goal of this series, he might have matched his legendary rookie-season hat trick.

The unlikliness of the goal was further reflected by the assists on it. Brandon Saad, he of the terrible scoring and healthy-scratching during the regular season, picked up the primary assist with a cross-ice pass, while fourth-line center Colton Sissons had the secondary. Sissons has been another quietly excellent playoff performer, as he's now up to six points in 13 games.

Finally, it was Ben Hutton whose post-penalty jailbreak set up a two-on-one for Howden's game-winner, and Nic Dowd whose hustle got the empty-net dagger towards the end. Talk about unexpected - Hutton came into the night with no playoff points, while Dowd hadn't recorded anything since two goals early in the Utah series. Such depth scoring is badly needed with Mark Stone currently on the shelf, though that may not be for long.

Carter Hart stands on his head yet again

Not much new to report here, honestly. The goaltender who bailed out Veas numerous times against Utah and Anaheim did it again on Wednesday, locking down Colorado to the tune of 36 saves on 38 shots, and not allowing a goal until the midway point of the third period.

Heck, even the two goals weren't bad ones, as the first involved a collision between Hutton and Coghlan, and the second came late during a 6-on-4 empty-net power play. Moneypuck in particular had him at a ridiculous 2.07 goals saved above average, marking one of his best performances of the playoffs.

Next up, it's Game 2 on Friday. We'll see if VGK can buck their historically rough Game 2 record across all rounds, or if it'll be heading back to Vegas tied. Go Knights Go!!

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow