Avalanche find sweep in Western Conference Final hard to swallow

LAS VEGAS -- Cale Makar was still in his full equipment, including skates, addressing the media and trying to process what happened to the Colorado Avalanche. 

The winners of the Presidents’ Trophy for having the best regular-season record in the NHL (55-16-11, 121 points) had just been swept out of the Western Conference Final by the Vegas Golden Knights, who finished with 26 fewer points in the standings (39-26-17, 95 points).

“It’s tough, obviously,” said Makar, the Avalanche defenseman. “I watched for the first couple (of games) and we’re right there, and a series like this, I mean, it’s one chance, one opportunity. Unfortunately, that's what it was tonight, and they just capitalized on the one extra that we gave them.”

The final blow came in the form of a 2-1 loss to the Golden Knights in Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Vegas now awaits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final between the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. 

Colorado will return home and reflect on what went wrong. 

“You feel for a lot of guys in this room, because there’s definitely no lack of effort anywhere,” Makar said, “but sometimes you question the bounces that we should be getting and just don’t happen. There’s a lot of pride in this room; you can’t take that away from us.”

Colorado rolled through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and defeating the Minnesota Wild in five games in the second. 

Makar didn’t play the first two games of the conference final because of an upper-body injury, and by the time he returned in Game 3, the Avalanche were already in a hole, having lost their first two games at home. 

Another loss in Game 3 made advancing to the Stanley Cup Final even more of a challenge, but Colorado was determined to keep fighting.

The Avalanche fell a goal short in Game 4, and it was all over earlier than anyone expected. 

“I think it just feels like a waste to be honest,” forward Logan O'Connor said. “Eighty-two games, you get tons of great pieces (players) and it feel as though you have a team that can do something special. And for us, at the end of the day, we said it in training camp, it’s ‘Cup or bust’ for us. Regardless of where you fall short, we fell super short of that goal.”

Colorado went into the series against Vegas knowing the margins would be tight but did not imagine being on the wrong side of all of them. 

“I felt there were times where we were really good in this series,” Makar said. “In Game 2 (a 3-1 loss) we had a one-goal lead going into the third period and stuff happens, a couple of bounces. 

“In Game 3 we’re up (3-0 in the first period) and lose that (5-3), and it’s tough. There was definitely no doubt in this room going into this game that we could push through and drag these guys back to Denver. But it’s one opportunity and that’s the series.”

Colorado had difficulty sustaining its game throughout the series. Vegas always seemed to have an answer. 

It did not help that center Nathan MacKinnon sustained a leg injury blocking a shot in Game 3 on Sunday and had to be helped off the ice at 12:15 of the second period. 

MacKinnon did his best to gut it out for the remainder of the game and was back in Game 4, but he was unable to generate anything offensively. 

MacKinnon had 127 points (53 goals, 74 assists) in 80 regular-season games this season and led the NHL in goals, but he was held to two assists in this series. He was with Colorado’s medical staff after Game 4 and not made available to the media. 

Gabriel Landeskog scored the lone goal for the Avalanche in Game 4 with 2:03 to go in the third period to make things close, but it was all they would get. 

The forward was also having difficulty processing his feelings after the game. 

“Yeah, it’s empty, there’s no other way to describe it really,” said Landeskog, the Avalanche captain. “I felt good about our team, I still do but, you got to give these guys credit on the other side. They’re good, they played hard, and Carter Hart is heck of a goalie and had heck of a series.

“But you go from being in the battle and all of a sudden the buzzer goes and season’s over. It’s a weird feeling to try to describe to people, but empty is probably the way to do it.”

In the end, the offense dried up for Colorado, leading to its elimination. The Avalanche averaged a League-best 3.63 goals per game during the regular season but managed to score just seven in four games (1.75 goals per game) against the Golden Knights. 

Hart, who had a 1.75 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in the series, played his part, as did Vegas’ big, physical defensemen. 

“I think it’s their checking game and I thought Carter Hart had an incredible series at times,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Sometimes I think we did a good job. Like I said before, you’re looking at this series going into this final game, the analytics are tight, they’re close in all aspects. He played really well and I think their team made it super difficult to create quality looks and when we did, he made the saves and that had all something to do with it.”