Second-period surge leads Knights past Avalanche in West finals opener

DENVER -- Dylan Coghlan and Pavel Dorofeyev scored 2:33 apart in the second period, Carter Hart made 36 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday.

Brett Howton also had a goal and Nic Dowd scored into an empty net for Vegas, which grabbed home-ice advantage from the Presidents' Trophy winners.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Friday night in Denver.

Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog scored while Scott Wedgewood turned away 24 shots for Colorado, which trails in a series for the first time in this postseason.

Vegas captain Mark Stone (lower-body injury) and Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (upper body) were scratched.

Both teams had chances in a scoreless first period. Keegan Kolesar nearly gave the Golden Knights the lead on a partial breakaway early on. Logan O'Connor hit the post for the Avalanche, and Hart made a save on Nazem Kadri in the waning seconds of the period.

Vegas finally broke through at 12:29 of the second period. Brandon Saad sent a pass to Coghlan in the slot, and Coghlan's wrister beat Wedgewood through the pads for his first goal of the postseason.

Colorado's Ross Colton took a roughing penalty less than two minutes later, and the Golden Knights took advantage. Mitch Marner stretched out with the puck and whipped a pass to Dorofeyev coming down the right side. Dorofeyev sent a one-timer to the short side past at 15:02, his 10th goal of the playoffs.

Vegas made it 3-0 early in the third after killing off a Colorado power play. Howden knocked down the rebound of Ben Hutton's shot with his glove and tapped the puck by Wedgewood at 1:34.

The Avalanche answered at 5:53 when Nichushkin redirected Colton's pass beyond Hart.

Wedgewood came off when Colorado went on the power play at 16:52, and Landeskog cut the deficit to one at 17:39.

The Avalanche pulled Wedgwood again, but Dowd sealed it into an empty net at 19:15.

--Field Level Media