The Colorado Avalanche's season came to an end with a 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday. Vegas won the Round 2, best-of-seven series 4-2.

Devon Toews scored the first goal of the game just 23 seconds after puck drop, but Nick Holden and William Karlsson tallied later in the period to give Vegas a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

The teams' alternated goals in the second period, with Mikko Rantanen finding the back of the net on the power play before Keegan Kolesar regained the lead for the Knights. Nathan MacKinnon assisted on Colorado's first two goals. Andre Burakovsky tied the game again a little over two minutes later, but Alex Pietrangelo gave the lead back to Vegas in the final minute of the frame. 

The Colorado Avalanche will have to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights this evening at T-Mobile Arena in order to continue its run in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"We are excited about the opportunity to win in this building," said defenseman Devon Toews. "We were here for two games before and we couldn't get the job done in either of those games, so it's a good opportunity for our group to show up. We feel like we are trending in the right direction. We haven't played our best yet either, so we are ready for that."

The Avs trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven Round 2 matchup against the Knights after winning the first two outings of the set. In Games 3 and 4 in Las Vegas, Colorado fell 3-2 and 5-1, respectively, but the Avalanche competed harder in the fourth outing than it had in the previous two.

The Colorado Avalanche looks to force its second-round playoff series to go the distance as the team takes on the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 this evening at T-Mobile Arena.

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer is expected to be in the Colorado net once again versus Vegas, which leads 3-2 in the best-of-seven set. If necessary, Game 7 is slated for Saturday back in Denver.

The Colorado Avalanche heads to Southern Nevada in a battle to keep its season alive when facing the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday. Colorado fell 3-2 in overtime at home on Tuesday and is now behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Brandon Saad scored his seventh goal of the playoffs, while Joonas Donskoi also found the back of the net for the Avs. Alex Newhook registered his first career NHL assist in the postseason, as Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Nemeth--his first point of the playoffs--each added a helper. For the Golden Knights, Mark Stone tallied the game-winning goal in overtime, with Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault both lighting the lamp as well.

This year's Stanley Cup Playoffs have a feel to it that is familiar but also different than what everyone has become accustomed to over the last 16 months. The postseason actually has a sense of normalcy with teams finally getting the chance to battle it out in front of arena crowds in the U.S. that have gotten incrementally larger and nearing full capacity.

The fans make the postseason more fun for athletes in any sport, and the Colorado Avalanche players have fed off that energy from their home supporters at Ball Arena since they've been allowed to return.

"It felt like it was completely packed to be honest with you," said Cale Makar following the Avalanche's first playoff game this year. "It was pretty cool to come out to that many amazing fans and just to have that amazing atmosphere again. Obviously we had the 4,000 or whatever in the regular season, but to add a few thousand here for the playoffs is pretty incredible."

In order to keep its season alive, the Colorado Avalanche has to go out and win Game 6 at the Vegas Golden Knights in order to force the Round 2 series to go the distance.

The Avs trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven set after falling 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday night. Despite facing the win-or-go-home scenario, the Avalanche is approaching Thursday's outing in Las Vegas with conviction.

"I think the mood is pretty good, we know what we have to do. We have to go into Vegas and win one game and give ourselves the opportunity to come home and take another kick at it like we had last night," said head coach Jared Bednar. "I was encouraged by [Game 4] in Vegas. Even though the result was poor, we made some big steps in that game and definitely another big step last night. To us, that's how we have to play.

"Obviously, there's a few puck decisions that we have to clean up, but going back through the game, I am not through all of it again yet, but I have gone through the scoring chances, and I like where they ended up for us. The chances that we gave up were low, but we gave up a couple home run plays there on some of our decisions… I don't see any reason why our team can't play with the same attack mentality that we had last night and go in there and get the job done. We played some nice games in Vegas this year although it hasn't so far yet in this series. We know we can go in there and play well."

The National Hockey League today announced that the start time for the potential Game 7 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, if necessary, has been set for 5:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, June 12, in Denver. The game would be televised on NBCSN in the U.S. In Canada, the game would be on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports.

The Colorado Avalanche will need to win in Las Vegas if the club wants to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Colorado played as solid of a Game 5 as it could for nearly 60 minutes on Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights, but the difference came in about 10 combined seconds that involved Avs turnovers and led to goals against, according to head coach Jared Bednar.

Vegas used those giveaways to win 3-2 in overtime and take a 3-2 series lead heading to T-Mobile Arena with a chance to close out the second round in Game 6 on Thursday.

"I loved the way we played tonight, I loved it. I thought we were the aggressors, we were on our toes, we were playing to win the hockey game, we played to our identity. The three goals they got--even in the third period I had no problems with it--except for the turnovers," said Bednar postgame. "I don't think we had a lot of turnovers tonight, but we had three and they all, that I know, led to their goals against. They were all turnovers."

Mark Stone scored in the first minute of overtime for the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche fell 3-2 in Game 5 on Tuesday night at Ball Arena. The Avs trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series in the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Brandon Saad opened the scoring with 1.8 seconds remaining in the first period and Joonas Donskoi doubled the Avalanche's lead with 3:32 left in the middle frame.

Historically in the NHL, the winner of Game 5 when a best-of-seven set is tied at 2-2 goes on to win the series 78.8 percent of the time.

Knowing that and with home-ice advantage, the Colorado Avalanche has a big opportunity tonight at Ball Arena against the Vegas Golden Knights as the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue.

"Guys are really excited. We know what is at stake here, it's a three-game series, it's do-or-die now," said Avs forward Tyson Jost after morning skate. "We're back in front of our fans, that is exciting. I know guys are going to come out flying. Last game too, we battled hard. Obviously, the result wasn't what we wanted, but I thought we built a little bit. It's something we can build on tonight. Guys are really energized, and we're excited to come out playing tonight."