This is as cooked as a series gets without the handshake line forming. The Avs jumped Vegas 3-0 in the first period of Game 3 on Sunday, then watched the Golden Knights rip off 5 straight goals to take a stranglehold of the Western Conference Final. Tomas Hertl buried the go-ahead at 8:21 of the third and the building hasn't stopped humming since.
The injury report is where this really gets grim. Nathan MacKinnon took a shot off the knee in Game 3 and is officially day-to-day, with Jared Bednar admitting the moment was "traumatizing" for his star. Valeri Nichushkin missed the final 22 minutes of that same game with a lower-body issue and is also day-to-day. You don't beat Vegas 4 straight without your Rocket Richard winner and your best playoff power forward. You probably don't beat them once.
- Day-To-DayValeri Nichushkin RW — Nichushkin underwent treatment Monday for a lower-body injury, Eric Francis of Sportsnet reports.
- Day-To-DayNathan MacKinnon C — MacKinnon (lower body) is undergoing evaluations and treatments, according to Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette on Monday.
The market is still pricing this like a real hockey game, which is either respect for the desperation or a trap. Pinnacle has Vegas at -101 on the moneyline and the Avs at -111, basically a coin flip with a slight Colorado lean. The puck-line is what tells the story — Vegas +1.5 sits at -260 because nobody on the planet wants to lay 1.5 with the Avs in this spot.
The math against Colorado is brutal. No team has ever come back from 0-3 in a conference final — 0-49 all-time, per NHL.com. The Avs are also coming off the first 3-goal blown lead in playoff history against Vegas, which is the kind of loss that lingers between the ears for more than 36 hours.
If there's a path, it starts with MacKinnon gutting it out, Mackenzie Blackwood stealing a period, and Cale Makar quarterbacking a power play that's gone quiet. Lose any of those three legs and this thing is over by 10:30 PT. Hard to see Vegas, with a series sweep in its mouth, letting that happen at home.