The Colorado Avalanche are on the brink of elimination and being swept out of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. On Tuesday night, Colorado will battle the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Four of the Western Conference Final. With Vegas up 3–0 in the series, Colorado will attempt to avoid being swept.
Colorado Avalanche (8–4)
The Avalanche jumped to a 3–0 lead early in Game Three, but an epic collapse followed. Colorado gave up five unanswered goals, starting just 19 seconds into the second period. That was not the worst of it, though. Both Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin went down with injuries. MacKinnon tried to give it a go in the final period, but could not push off on his injured leg. Nichushkin did not play the final 22 minutes of the contest. There have been no updates to either player at this point. If these two do not play, it will be a tough hill to climb for the Avalanche.
Projected Lines
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Artturi Lehkonen – Brock Nelson – Nicolas Roy
Ross Colton – Nazem Kadri – Logan O’Connor
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Joel Kiviranta
Sam Malinski – Devon Toews
Brett Kulak – Brent Burns
Nick Blankenburg – Josh Manson
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Vegas Golden Knights (11–4)
The Vegas Golden Knights were led by the return of their captain, Mark Stone, during Game Three. He scored just 19 seconds into the second period to start a rush of five unanswered goals by Vegas. The mere threat of him besides Mitch Marner and Jack Eichel became too much for the Avalanche defense to handle. If Vegas can come into Game Four with their relentless pressure as before, they will find success.
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: 7:00 p.m. MT
Watch: ESPN
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/AM 950
