The Avalanche know how fortunate they are to be taking a 2-0 series lead against the Vegas Golden Knights into Las Vegas for Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup second-round series Friday and Sunday.

After getting blown out in a 7-1 loss in Game 1, the real Golden Knights team showed up Wednesday and gave the Avalanche all they could handle, keeping the Nathan MacKinnon line in check, outshooting them by a combined 31-12 in the second and third periods and forcing Philipp Grubauer to make a number of outstanding saves.

MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and defenseman Cale Makar were held off the scoresheet until Rantanen’s power-play goal 2:07 into overtime for the 3-2 win.

"It wasn't our best game, we know that," said Rantanen, who has three goals and seven assists in the first six games this postseason and a 16-game playoff point streak with nine goals and 17 assists going back to last season. “But that's what we need. We need to find a way even when we don't play our best."

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The schedule, all times MT
Game 1 --– Avalanche 7-1
Game 2 – Avalanche 3-2 (OT)
Friday -- at Vegas, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday -- at Vegas, 6:30 p.m.
*Tuesday -- at Avalanche, TBD
*Thursday, June 10 -- at Vegas, TBD
*Saturday. June 12 -- at Avalanche, TBD
* If necessary
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Coach Jared Bednar said as much after the game and on Thursday before the team took its charter flight to Sin City. They’ll definitely have to play better at T-Mobile Arena, where the Golden Knights will have the backing of a full house.

“I think we know that we have to play better,” Bednar said. “I liked our start, I liked our first period. We’ve already discussed what we got away from in the second and the third. They created more scoring chances than us. We certainly had some good looks, too, where we could have scored; most of ours were on our power play.”

The Avalanche went 2-for-6 on power plays; Tyson Jost scored the first one for a 2-1 lead in the first period after Samuel Girard fed Brandon Saad (five-game goal streak) for the game’s first goal with a stretch pass, and Rantanen beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a high, short side shot from the right faceoff dot after a cross-ice feed from MacKinnon.

“They looked like the quicker team and the more hungry team,” Bednar said. “They were playing desperate hockey and we didn’t quite get there in the final two periods. That 60-minute effort, getting back to our game, is going to be important.”

“I certainly think that Grubi got us the win; that’s part of it. We don’t want to rely on him as much as we did last night, but he was up to the task."

Grubauer outplayed fellow Vezina Trophy finalist Fleury, and has gone 6-0 in the playoffs with a 1.66 goals-against average and .943 save percentage.

Grubauer’s 39 saves were a personal playoff career high, and he’s the 10th goalie in NHL history to have won as many as 10 playoff games in a row.

Grubauer has gone 66-30-10 in three regular seasons and 18-5 in the playoffs since his June 22, 2018 trade for a second-round pick (No. 47) in the 2018 NHL draft from the Washington Capitals, where he was a member of their Cup championship team as a backup.

“He came in here and he hadn’t been a starter before when he first arrived,” Bednar said. “He felt that he was ready and he’s played himself into a starter role for us and he’s excelled at it in the most important time of the year.

“He’s battled some injuries, but he’s put in the work and got himself healthy and stronger and you’ve seen the confidence in him growing. It really started from Day One in training camp this year and now he’s getting recognized with the Vezina nomination. I think he’s earned it.

“Our team is extremely comfortable in front of him and confident he’s going to make the saves.”

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The Avalanche and Denver Nuggets have been given approval to play before a 100 percent capacity crowd at Ball Arena starting with the next round if they advance.

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The Avalanche have signed center Andreas Wingerli, 23, to a one-year contract. The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Wingerli, who is from Lycksele, Sweden, had a goal and two assists in seven games for his native country in the 2021 IIHF World Championship tournament.

He played six seasons with Skelleftea of the Swedish Hockey League where he had 48 goals and 56 assists in 288 games.



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