3. Injury bug bites hard
All-everything defenseman Cale Makar, a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the top player at his position during the regular season, sustained an upper-body injury in the second round and was never right again. He missed the first two games against Vegas and was limited in the final two games. Makar averaged of 27:22 in those games but his impact was blunted. He didn't have a point after having five (four goals, one assist) in his first nine playoff games.
The trickle-down effect across the lineup during his absence was palpable. The Avalanche were out of sorts, couldn't transition the puck and had trouble maintaining time in the offensive zone. Their power play, without its quarterback, was disorganized. Depth defensemen were asked to step up and take on more minutes and additional responsibilities and, for the most part, fell short. MacKinnon was hobbled for the second half of Game 3 after blocking a shot and that hampered the comeback push. Nichushkin missed Game 4 with a lower-body injury.
4. Lack of a big save
Scott Wedgewood played the first three games of the Western Conference Final and was not bad, but was not elite and could not hold the lead when it mattered.
In Game 1, he gave up the first three goals of the game, killing the enthusiasm in Ball Arena. The Avalanche rallied but lost 4-2.
In Game 2, he was brilliant for the first 49 minutes, and Colorado was trying to nurse a 1-0 lead to the finish line. Instead, he gave up goals to Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev in a span of 2:07 and the Avalanche lost 3-1 after Barbashev added an empty-net goal. Afterward, Wedgewood said he would like to have one, if not both, goals back.
In Game 3, the Avalanche jumped out to a 3-0 lead and appeared primed to make it a series. Instead, Stone scored on the power play 19 seconds into the second and the rally was on. William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar each scored their first goal of this postseason to tie it at 3-3 and Tomas Hertl scored the game-winner 8:21 into the third.
Wedgewood allowed nine goals on 73 shots in this series for an .877 save percentage. Mackenzie Blackwood played Game 4 and stopped 24 of 26 shots in a 2-0 loss.
5. Chasing games
The Avalanche played from ahead from the drop of the puck this season, running away in the regular season on their way to the Presidents' Trophy. They never lost three games in a row this season in regulation and only lost consecutive games in regulation three times.
Entering this series, they were 45-0-0 this season when leading after two periods. But it didn't matter. They never got the lead in the opening or closing games. They blew leads in the other two games, including a 3-0 lead in Game 3. They trailed for 73:36 in this series and were unprepared and unable to find their way back into games against a very stout Vegas defense.
