The Vegas Golden Knights have made a successful start to their NHL playoff semi-final series against the Colorado Avalanche. The team from the players' city wins 4:2 in Denver.
21.05.2026, 06:00
SDA
The Golden Knights, who were once again without their surplus goalkeeper Akira Schmid, scored two goals within two and a half minutes in the second period. The 1-0 goal was scored by Dylan Coghlan, a defenseman who has been trying to gain a foothold in the NHL for six years. The Canadian, who made his league debut with his current employer, went on to try out for the Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets before returning to the Golden Knights this season.
However, Coghlan only appeared three times in the regular season, spending most of his time in the AHL with farm team Henderson Silver Knights. In his fifth game in the playoffs, he scored his first goal in this phase of the championship.
The Golden Knights' scorers for the 2-0 and 3-0 wins have very good stats in these playoffs. Russian Pawel Dorofejew scored his tenth goal on the power play, while Coghlan's compatriot Brett Howden now has nine goals.
Waleri Nitschuschkin, also a Russian, and the Swede Gabriel Landeskog in overtime managed to reduce the deficit to 2:3 for the Avalanche in the third period and bring back the tension in the final phase, but the American Nic Dowd made everything clear for the Golden Knights with a shot into the empty net 45 seconds before the end. The Avalanche's false start was perfect, as the number 1 team in the regular season was beaten at home for the first time in these playoffs.
