Avalanche must ‘put on our work boots’ for Game 3 of Western Final

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche know it won’t be easy, but they still like their chances in the Western Conference Final despite losing the first two games of the series at home to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Game 3 shifts to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“They still haven't seen our best, and maybe we haven't seen their best either,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said on Saturday. “We have a number of areas in our game that we can improve for Game 3 to get us a better chance of winning.

“If I felt like we played our best game in Game 1 and our best game in Game 2 and we lost, I'd be a little bit more like, ‘Oh, I'm really worried about this.’”

Colorado lost the series opener 4-2 on Wednesday, then was unable to protect a one-goal lead in the third period of Game 2, a 3-1 loss on Friday. The Avalanche were 45-0-0 when leading after two periods in the 2025-26 regular season and playoffs combined and won the Presidents’ Trophy as the League’s best regular-season team (55-16-11, 121 points).

“Obviously weren’t expecting being down 2-0, but I mean, we’ve just got to put on our work boots and be ready for the next game,” forward Nicolas Roy said. “I think we've been playing pretty good. We haven't been opportunistic enough, (and) I think we can create more chaos at the net front as well. I think we’re doing some good things, but we definitely can do better as well.

“We believe in this group. You look at the video, think you can do better, and we'll be ready for the next game.”

One area the Avalanche know they must address heading into Game 3 is avoiding the mistakes that have cost them thus far. Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel tied the game Friday at 9:15 of the third after defenseman Sam Malinski hesitated to play a puck near Vegas’ blue line, resulting in a transition the other way.

“Some of the things that we talked about this morning again after Game 1 and Game 2 is some of the competitive edge that we need to have,” Bednar said. “We're making soft plays on the entries that are turning over and giving them some really good rush opportunities, and they've capitalized on those. They're not giving those to us, so you know part of it is strength and competitiveness on the puck coming through the neutral zone, making firmer plays, and decision making, and we have to correct that.”

And they must do so in Las Vegas against a team that has won its past four games, including the last two against the Anaheim Ducks in the second round. The Golden Knights have allowed six goals over that span.

But the Avalanche aren’t pushing the panic button.

“We came to the rink today, the sun came up, and we learned from the past,” forward Ross Colton said. “And we’ve got to go on the road here and do a job.”