The Colorado Avalanche blew a slim lead in the third period, falling in Game Two to the Vegas Golden Knights in an eventual 3-1 final. Jack Eichel equalized on an odd-man rush, and Ivan Barbashev wrapped up the final two goals of the game.

The Avs will go on the road after dropping both games at Ball Arena without history on their side. Only one team in NHL history has ever come back and won a conference semifinal after losing the first two games at home: the 1945 Detroit Red Wings.

View From the Mountaintop

Colorado was still without Cale Makar in this game, dealing with an upper-body injury. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan mentioned pre-game that this injury isn’t a pain management injury, but something serious that needed time to heal. Defensively, they have held up for the most part. However, they have missed Makar’s prowess offensively. The Avs’ downfalls came on the power play and missing Makar’s puck and skating ability. Plus, Devon Toews blew his positioning on Eichel’s goal, and couldn’t clear the puck on Barbashev’s first goal. Scott Wedgewood did his best with some key saves, but again fell at the hands of the team in front of him.


Offensively, as previously mentioned, there were issues on the power play. Like all season and playoffs long, they missed the net and couldn’t conjure up enough. Colorado missed the net several times. Those misses came from either just not finding it, and thanks to Vegas blocking shots once again, as they did in Game One. Ross Colton scored the lone goal of the game on what was a great third line overall for the Avalanche. But no help from the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin, Martin Necas, or Brock Nelson is severely hurting their chances.


Speaking of their chances, the Avs are in real rough shape now. History is not on their side, as previously mentioned. Coming into this game, when scoring first, they were 5-0 in the postseason. In addition, dating back to the regular season, Colorado was 45-0-0 when holding a lead heading into the third period. But they could not come up with a sixth win and a 46th win, respectively, in those categories. The last time they blew a lead heading into the third period? Game Seven against Mikko Rantanen and the Dallas Stars. Colorado might need to force Makar to play hurt to give themselves a chance to put history back on its side.

Up Next

The Western Conference Final hits the road, heading to Las Vegas for Game Three on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. MT.