Avalanche look to even series up against the Golden Knights

The Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights will battle in the Western Conference Finals on Friday night. Vegas took Game One of the series on Wednesday night with a 4–2 victory in Denver. It is the first time that the Avalanche have trailed during the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now the Colorado Avalanche will try to even the series up before they head to Vegas for the next two games.

Colorado Avalanche (8–2)

The Avalanche had a poor performance in Game One without defenseman Cale Makar in the lineup. He took part in the morning skate on Friday, but is still fighting the injury bug. As for the rest of the team, Brent Burns did not take part in the morning skate, with Alex Gagne filling in. Colorado will have to depend on its offensive depth to push past Vegas this round while staying healthy. The forward group is still healthy, but expect them to get roughed up with the heavy style of play that Vegas brings to the ice.

Projected Lines

Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen – Brock Nelson – Nicolas Roy
Ross Colton – Nazem Kadri – Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Logan O’Connor

Sam Malinski – Devon Toews
Brett Kulak – Josh Manson
Jack Ahcan – Brent Burns

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Vegas Golden Knights (9–4)

Vegas will look to take a two-game lead over the Avalanche, much like they did in 2021. They will have to depend on their offense with players like Mitch Marner. The former Maple Leaf leads all players with 19 points in the playoffs. Goaltender Carter Hart will need to play another excellent game against the Avalanche. Colorado will come at him hard and fast in Game Two.

Projected Lines

Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Pavel Dorofeyev
Brett Howden – William Karlsson – Mitch Marner
Brandon Saad – Tomas Hertl – Colton Sissons
Cole Smith – Nic Dowd – Keegan Kolesar

Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
Shea Theodore – Dylan Coghlan
Ben Hutton – Kaedan Korczak

Carter Hart
Adin Hill

Game Details

Time: 6:00 p.m. MT

Watch: ESPN

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950