Vegas jumped out to a three-goal cushion, then had to withstand a furious Colorado push before hanging on for a 4-2 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on Wednesday night at Ball Arena.
In a matchup of size versus speed, the Golden Knights used their physical play to slow the Avalanche early, turning the first period into a hard-checking battle with neither team finding the net.
Dylan Coghlan, an unlikely offensive contributor, opened the scoring at 12:29 of the second period for the Golden Knights, beating Scott Wedgewood from between the circles for his first playoff goal and his first NHL goal since Dec. 17, 2021, making it 1-0.
Vegas added to its lead at 15:02 on the power play when Mitch Marner carried the puck in and set up Pavel Dorofeyev, who scored to make it 2-0.
Brent Howden made it 3-0 at 1:34 of the third after Ben Hutton jumped on a loose puck at center ice to spark a two-on-one. Hutton fired high, Wedgewood made the initial save, and Howden buried the rebound.
Colorado got one back at 5:53 when Valeri Nichushkin redirected a Ross Colton pass through his legs to make it 3-1.
The Avalanche cut it to one again at 17:39 on the power play when Nathan MacKinnon slipped past Brayden McNabb and fed Gabriel Landeskog for a cross-crease finish.
Colorado pushed for the equalizer late, but Knights goaltender Carter Hart held firm before Nic Dowd sealed the victory with an empty-net goal.
The Golden Knights take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 on Friday in Colorado.
