DENVER -- No team is immune to losing the first game of a playoff series. But the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights have come close.
The Golden Knights' 4-2 win over the Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Wednesday night marked the eighth time they have grabbed the series-opening victory in their past nine playoff matchups.
It's a run that began in 2023, when the Golden Knights opened their second-round series against the Oilers; Edmonton then interrupted what was a five-game winning streak in Game 1s last season.
Vegas opened this season's playoffs with Game 1 wins over the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks before handing Colorado just its second loss this postseason -- and first at home.
Furthermore, the Golden Knights snapped the Avalanche's four-game Game 1 winning streak as part of a run that had seen them win eight of their last 10 series openers since 2022.
"I think you just go into the game with confidence from our last two series," Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner said. "Obviously, I've only been here for this year, but you're just going in there with that confidence, you go into there with a swagger, and all the Game 1s are always a tough situation regardless of where you're at on the road or at home."
Winning Game 1 is far from the primary item that has allowed the Golden Knights to advance to the third round for the fifth time in nine years. They have also proved they can be comfortable building leads without owning the puck.
Both of those dynamics came into play against the Avalanche. Natural Stat Trick's metrics show Colorado had a 56.7% shot share in 5-on-5 play. It's a similar figure to the Ducks, who had a 56.2% shot share against the Golden Knights before they were eliminated in six games.
One way the Golden Knights sustained that pressure? Carter Hart. The goaltender, who has played every minute in net this postseason, was perfect through the first two periods Wednesday night.
He made several saves that prevented the Avalanche from taking the lead. One of the most crucial came late in the first period when he denied Nazem Kadri, who was in front of the net, from scoring into a gaping cage.
But it wasn't just the point-blank chances. Hart also fought through traffic either to stop shots or control rebounds with the Golden Knights blocking 23 shots in addition to his 36 saves.
"We know they're a good team and they have a lot of skill on their team," Hart said. "We respect that, but we can't respect them too much. I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space, and I thought we blocked a lot of shots and got in a lot of lanes and tied up some sticks."
Hart stopping shots with his teammates blocking them eventually was rewarded when Dylan Coghlan scored his first postseason goal to give Vegas a 1-0 lead in the second. Pavel Dorofeyev doubled the lead with less than five minutes left in the period.
Vegas made it 3-0 a little more than 90 seconds into the third period when Ben Hutton got out of the penalty box, collected the puck in the neutral zone and fired a shot on net. Scott Wedgewood's initial save led to Brett Howden knocking the puck down and tapping it into an open net for a three-goal edge.
"I thought we'd put some good minutes in tonight when we had the puck," Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. "Where we struggled is when you turn the puck over against that team or don't get it in at a certain time, or they get a second opportunity when you don't get it out, they're dangerous.
"Those are the things we need to improve on."
While building leads is something the Golden Knights have done a few times this postseason, mounting comebacks was familiar to the Avalanche. They fell into a three-goal deficit in Game 5 against the Minnesota Wild in the second round only to win 4-3 in overtime after scoring three unanswered in the third.
Colorado's comeback bid Wednesday night started when Val Nichushkin scored his second of the postseason with 15:07 left to cut the lead to 3-1.
Nichushkin's goal powered a third period in which the Avalanche had a 57.1% shot share in 5-on-5 play while mustering 13 shots.
They still needed the majority of the third to find another. Shea Theodore received a two-minute minor for high-sticking to give the Avalanche a power play that turned into a 6-on-4 when they pulled Wedgewood with less than five minutes left in the game. The Avalanche converted with Gabriel Landeskog cutting the lead to 3-2 with 2:21 left.
But any hopes of another three-goal comeback ended less than two minutes later as Nic Dowd scored an empty-net goal with 45 seconds left to seal the Game 1 win for Vegas.
"I keep on answering the question, but our players aren't fazed," Tortorella said. "They know. We've gone over how we want to play. It's not changed from series to series quite honestly. We're trying to play our game, not worry too much about counter off another team. We're going to try to play our game, and I think they feel very comfortable in it."