Avalanche face daunting task after unfamiliar loss in Game 2 of Western Final

DENVER -- The road from glory to grief for the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference has been stunning in the shortness of its duration -- and the intensity of the despair.

The Avalanche, the top seed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the winner of the Presidents’ Trophy in the regular season, lost 3-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final at Ball Arena on Friday night.

In blowing a third-period lead for the first time this season, the Avalanche are down 2-0 in the best-of-7 series and must win four of the next five games to keep alive the date with the Stanley Cup that was all but presumed when Colorado lapped the field in the regular season and started the playoffs with wins in eight of its first nine games.

Goalie Scott Wedgewood sat in his locker stall in the mostly empty dressing room in the aftermath trying to explain how a one-goal lead turned into a one-goal deficit in a span of two minutes and seven seconds in the third period.

It was a swing from which the Avalanche could not recover.

“It changes quick,” the goalie said, seemingly still a bit shell-shocked. “You bank on a seven-game series to get one next. That’s all you can bank on and prepare for that. That’s obviously the playoffs, it’s not an easy script. Nothing is set in stone or predicted or prepared.”

Say that again.

The Avalanche were 45-0-0 when leading after two periods in the 2025-26 regular season and playoffs combined. They had found a way home in each of the four games before this in the postseason in which they had to survive a final 20 minutes with the lead. They had only lost back-to-back games in regulation three times across the 82-game regular season.

They couldn’t get across the finish line this time, against the best comeback team in hockey.

The Golden Knights earned their 26th comeback win in the regular season and playoffs combined this season when Ivan Barbashev scored at 11:22 of the third with a screened point shot past Wedgewood’s blocker for a 2-1 lead. Barbashev added an empty-net goal at 18:57.

The narrative on this night changed when Jack Eichel scored at 9:15 of the third period.

Defenseman Sam Malinski hesitated to play a puck near the attacking blue line and Vegas claimed it, starting their transition game.

The puck came to Pavel Dorofeyev in the center of the ice and he blithely touched it over to Eichel streaming down the boards to the left of Wedgewood. Eichel hesitated, freezing defenseman Devon Toews and forcing Wedgewood to guess a bit. Then he toe-dragged the puck and snapped a shot over Wedgewood’s leg pad and off the far post for his first goal since Game 3 of the first round.

“It’s a hell of a shot,” Wedgewood said. “Eight inches off the ice, post and in. It’s one you want to get.”

Wedgewood said he wanted both goals that he allowed back and beat himself up pretty good after the game.

But, there was plenty of blame to go around.

The Avalanche scored with 3:01 left in the first, on a goal by Ross Colton, and then couldn’t land a knockout blow.

“We let them hang around throughout the game,” forward Logan O'Connor said.

Coach Jared Bednar pointed to a stretch of 4-on-4 play early in the second period. Colorado had more than a minute of offensive-zone time and had three quality chances. Each player missed the net.

“It’s a fine margin for error, the difference of winning and losing,” Bednar said. “There's obviously things in the game, especially when you gave up two in the third period, that you don't like.

“There's a lot of that game that I really liked, and so you’ve got to keep chipping away at the margins and we need to try and win them.”

The margin now is almost nonexistent.

Teams with a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 playoff round hold an all-time series record of 365-58. When the lower seed starts with two wins on the road, it’s 91-22, an .805 winning percentage. This postseason, each of the five teams taking a 2-0 lead has won those series.

Yes, the odds look bleak.

But the Avalanche aren’t going to Vegas to try to win four games on Sunday, the date of Game 3 at T-Mobile Arena (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC). They are just looking to get back into the series, to give themselves a more realistic chance to salvage glory.

“We can’t ride the emotional roller coaster like fans, right? “Bednar said. “You lose Game 1, you’re getting swept. If we win Game 1, we’re sweeping them. Like, that’s not reality. You have to deal with the task at hand and what’s to come.”

Wedgewood knows anything can happen in the postseason. He just saw it. He just watched a team that finished 26 standings points behind his team saunter into one of the hardest buildings to find a road win in the League and walk out with two wins and command of a series.

So, why can’t the Avalanche go into Sin City and flip the script, he asked. Steal the two games there and make it a best-of-3 with home ice.

“This is the hand we were dealt, we have to find a way to play it to our advantage,” he said.