The Stanley Cup-favorite Colorado Avalanche are one loss away from being swept out of the Western Conference finals by the Vegas Golden Knights. Their superstar center Nathan MacKinnon was hobbled after blocking a shot in their Game 3 loss, in which they blew a 3-0 lead. On top of all that, history is very much not on their side for a miracle rally.
"It's as low as it can get," coach Jared Bednar said after watching his team fumble a three-goal lead in a 5-3 loss in Game 3.
Only four teams in NHL history have rallied after losing the first three games of a best-of-seven series. Teams that take a 3-0 series lead in a best-of seven series in the round before the Stanley Cup Final are 49-0, including 13-0 when starting on the road with two straight wins.
"You've got a big hill to climb. You've got to find a way to get over it and regroup," Bednar said.
The climb got steeper when MacKinnon, the team's Hart Trophy finalist and leading playoff scorer (15 points in 12 games), was injured with 7:54 left in the second period when he blocked a slap shot off the stick of Knights defenseman Shea Theodore in the Colorado defensive zone. The puck appeared to hit off MacKinnon's left leg as he fell to the ice.
At first, he didn't come out for the third period before joining the Colorado bench around three minutes into the frame. He took one shift during a 4-on-4 and then took part in a Colorado power play and when the Avalanche pulled goalie Scott Wedgewood in search of the tying goal. He wasn't skating with any intensity, and ultimately just took four shifts in the third.
"Obviously, we might have to kill him to get him off the ice. It's just the kind of the person he is and the competitor he is," Wedgewood said. "He wants to win more than anybody and that's just another example."
Bednar didn't have an update on MacKinnon after the game.
Colorado received better injury news before the game with the return of star defenseman Cale Makar, who sat out the first two losses against Vegas because of an upper-body injury. He played 27 minutes, 14 seconds with 11 shot attempts but no points.
"I mean, obviously it's our season on the line. Our mentality's been like that, and it should have been like that today," Makar said after the Game 3 loss. "I felt like it was. It was desperate at times. But we gave them a couple too many opportunities and they capitalized on that."
The Avalanche started the game like a team refusing to accept their fate. Forward Gabriel Landeskog followed a drive to the net by Devon Toews to tuck home his fifth goal of the postseason. Just 4:18 later, Nazem Kadri converted a Martin Necas pass for his third of the playoffs, as Bednar's decision to drop Necas from MacKinnon's line paid off.
The Golden Knights thought they cut the lead as Pavel Dorofeyev appeared to knock the puck behind Wedgewood with his stick, but the on-ice officials waved it off, claiming he knocked it in with his glove. The NHL Situation Room determined that the puck did go off the glove, so the call stood. Less than a minute later, Jack Drury scored a short-handed goal to make it 3-0 Colorado after the first period.
"We knew that was going to be their best period of the season," said Golden Knights captain Mark Stone, playing for the first time since Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks. "You've just got to keep playing your game. You start turning it into a track meet against those guys and they're just going to make it 6-1."
A three-goal lead usually means an Avalanche victory. They had a 74-1 record when leading by at least three goals in franchise history and had won 49 straight games (regular season and playoffs) when having built a three-goal lead.
The Golden Knights began their rally on the power play, as Stone tipped home a Mitch Marner pass on the power play just 19 seconds into the period. Just under four minutes later, Wedgewood blocked a Marner shot only to have William Karlsson snap home the rebound for his first of the playoffs.
"When Karly scored, it kind of put them on the heels. It put a doubt in their heads because they know they need a win tonight," center Tomas Hertl said. "We just started playing better, smarter and aggressive."
At 12:46, Keegan Kolesar completed the rally by knocking down Dylan Coghlan's shot and then knocking it in for his first of the playoffs.
Hertl broke the tie at 8:21 of the third period with a wicked backhander, set up by Stone. Brett Howden's 10th of the playoffs into an empty net iced it.
The Avalanche entered the playoffs as the heavy favorite to win the Stanley Cup, having captured the Presidents' Trophy for having the best record in the regular season. Now, they're only one loss from being another footnote in that trophy's infamous "curse," as only two teams in the past 20 seasons have finished with the league's best record and won the Cup.
"No one's backing down from the challenge, but they're not making it easy," Wedgewood said. "It's going to take a tremendous effort and we'll find a way to do it."