Vegas stole Game 1 by a 4-2 score at Ball Arena on Wednesday, and the Avalanche couldn't keep up without their Norris-caliber defenseman on the back end. Now Colorado is the home favorite again, but the math on a 0-2 hole versus a Golden Knights team that already proved it can win in your building is ugly.
The Makar situation is the whole ballgame. He's officially day-to-day with an upper-body issue after that late Game 5 collision against Minnesota, and Jared Bednar didn't have an update Thursday. If he plays, the Avs look like the Avs. If he sits again, Colorado is asking a banged-up blue line to slow down a Vegas group that just punched them in the mouth in their own rink.
- Day-To-DayCale Makar D — day-to-day
The other problem in a Vegas sweater is Mitch Marner, who is leading the entire postseason with 18 points and looked like the best player on the ice in Game 1. Tomas Hertl chipped in too. Colorado spent the regular season chasing those two around, and through three meetings they were the difference. That hasn't changed in May.
The market still believes in the Avs. Vegas is +168 on the moneyline, Colorado is laying -1.5 at +136, and the total sits at 6 with the over juiced to -116. Translation: oddsmakers expect a Makar-or-not bounce back, but they're not exactly betting the house on the spread. The road dog price is the interesting number here.
Bednar's team has been a strong bounce-back group all year, and Ball Arena should be loud and angry. Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas have to drive play the way they did against Dallas, and Mackenzie Blackwood has to stop looking ordinary against Vegas's middle-six. If the Avs lose this one, the series isn't quite over — but it sure starts feeling that way on the flight to the desert.