Colorado without Makar is a science experiment, and the early returns are ugly. Vegas jumped first thanks to a name nobody had circled coming in - Dylan Coghlan, a depth defenseman flying around the ice like he was auditioning for a top pair. Whitney clocked it immediately and pointed out the obvious: the Avs blue line just doesn't function the same when their best player is in a suit.
Whitney on the Coghlan goal and the Makar-sized hole in Colorado's lineup.
This Dylan Coghlan is good. Out of nowhere. He flys 1-0 Vegas. Colorado so different without Makar
The Vegas-is-cooked narrative aged about 48 hours. This is a team that was supposed to be a speed bump for a stacked Colorado group, and instead they're the ones humming heading into a series the rest of the league assumed would be a Denver coronation. Whitney, who picked against them too, was busy eating crow live on the timeline.
Whitney roasting the Avs fans who had Vegas dead and buried before puck drop.
Where are all the Avs fans saying Vegas was going to get drummed in this series ? I thought the same at beginning of playoffs but this Vegas time is just humming. No makar and the Avs could be in one
The real story player-wise is Brett Howden, who entered the playoffs as a third-line guy and has somehow already matched his entire previous postseason goal total in a single run. 9 goals in 43 career playoff games coming in, 9 goals in this run alone. That is not a bottom-six contribution - that is a difference-maker rewriting his own resume in real time.
Whitney crunching the Howden numbers after the dagger went in.
That’s game. Brett Howden what a playoff. Had 9 goals in 43 previous playoff games and this year has 9 already. What a run
Denver did not go quietly. MacKinnon, because he is MacKinnon, dragged the Avs back into the game with a move that left Brayden McNabb spinning in place looking for his stick. Even short Makar, you do not bury a team that has 97 on it without a fight, and for a stretch it looked like Vegas was going to have to sweat the third period out.
The MacKinnon-on-McNabb moment, Whitney edition.
Oh my god mackinnon just put McNabb in the blender. WE GOT A GAME FOLKS
Then came Dowd. An empty-netter that Whitney swore was going to be waved off for icing turned into the seal, and Carter Hart - who has quietly been excellent this run - locked it down on the other end. Vegas is up 1-0 in the series, and now the only question that matters is whether Makar can get a needle and a prayer and suit up for Game 2. Because if he can't, this thing is going to get weird fast.
Whitney wrapping the night - Dowd's effort, Hart's game, and the Makar question hanging over Game 2.
What an effort by Dowd on the empty netter i thought it was going to be icing. Gamer. Vegas takes game 1. Gonna need a special mixture of pain killing medicine for Makar game 2. What a game. Carter Hart was phenomenal.