{"id":1010,"date":"2026-05-21T06:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010"},"modified":"2026-05-21T06:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:05:00","slug":"avalanche-defenseman-cale-makar-misses-4-2-loss-to-vegas-in-opener-of-western-conference-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 At times, especially early, the Colorado Avalanche looked disjointed on defense. One player\u2019s absence made that big of difference.<\/p>\n

Read more Trey Yesavage outduels Cam Schlittler in marquee matchup as Blue Jays top Yankees 2-1<\/a><\/p>\n

With star defenseman Cale Makar<\/a> sidelined by an upper-body injury, the Avalanche hardly resembled the top-seeded team that rolled through the first two rounds. They experimented with different line combinations in a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a trickle-down effect to that,\u201d Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of not having Makar. \u201cBut he\u2019s not playing. We have find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few breakdowns led to some big plays. One of the biggest was Dylan Coghlan splitting the defense down the middle and scoring through the pads of goaltender Scott Wedgewood.<\/p>\n

Just the way the night went as the Avalanche trailed 3-0 before making it a one-goal game with 2:21 remaining on a power-play tally from captain Gabriel Landeskog.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey capitalized early, we fought back,\u201d said Wedgewood, who stopped 24 shots. \u201cBut just unfortunately didn\u2019t have enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado relied heavily on Devon Toews, who logged 27 minutes, 32 seconds. Brett Kulak was just over 23 minutes and Sam Malinski at 20:31. Josh Manson was just over 19 minutes, Brent Burns, at 41 years old, just shy of 17 minutes and Jack Ahcan, the defenseman who filled in for Makar, was limited to 7:34.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the guys that we had playing tonight, not just the D, were capable more and capable of better,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t there for us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Jeff McNeil\u2019s homer in 9th and Tyler Soderstrom\u2019s single in 10th lift A\u2019s to 6-5 win over Angels<\/a><\/p>\n

The availability of Makar for Game 2 on Friday night remains unknown. Although, Bednar did say that Makar was \u201cdoing a lot better,\u201d on Wednesday after morning skate.<\/p>\n

Makar hasn\u2019t been practicing with the team since he left the ice holding his right arm following a collision late in Game 5 against Minnesota<\/a> last Wednesday. He did return in that game as Colorado won in overtime. Makar also briefly left Game 1 after taking<\/a> a hit along the boards, with his right leg flying into the air before he fell to the ice.<\/p>\n

His absence is a blow for the Avalanche. This was the first time Makar has missed a playoff game for the Avalanche with an injury. He was suspended one game for interference during a series against Seattle in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Norris Trophy finalist has four goals and an assist while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time through the opening two rounds. Makar also is an integral part of Colorado\u2019s special teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cBest defenseman in the world,\u201d Avalanche forward Logan O\u2019Connor said before Game 1. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to be easily replaced. There\u2019s not one guy that\u2019s going to be able to do it. I think the advantage we have with the group we have in the game tonight is a lot of guys can be minute-munchers for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cCale presents a dynamic ability that is super-unique in the league. No one\u2019s going to replicate that tonight, but it\u2019s on the D-core as a whole, and our group as a whole, to try and pick it up when we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Golden Knights roll to early lead, hold off Avs 4-2 to open Western Conference Final<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/stanley-cup<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At times, especially early, the Colorado Avalanche looked disjointed on defense<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAvalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At times, especially early, the Colorado Avalanche looked disjointed on defense\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T06:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T06:05:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010\"},\"wordCount\":599,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010\",\"name\":\"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T06:05:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1010#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"At times, especially early, the Colorado Avalanche looked disjointed on defense","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-05-21T06:05:00+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final","datePublished":"2026-05-21T06:05:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010"},"wordCount":599,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010","name":"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-21T06:05:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1010#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar misses 4-2 loss to Vegas in opener of Western Conference Final"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}