Avalanche now barely favorites to top Vegas, no longer Stanley Cup leaders

One game won’t define a season for the Colorado Avalanche.

But a loss to open the Western Conference Final stings.

The Avs fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 1 on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Another third period epic comeback came up just short and Colorado is in a 1-0 series hole.

And just like that, the Avalanche are barely favorites to win the West and no longer the leaders in the clubhouse for the Stanley Cup.

According to the oddsmakers, Colorado is -122 to win the series while the Knights sit at +102. That’s basically a flip of a coin.

The Avalanche have (almost always) been the favorites to take the whole thing for months, but are now behind the Hurricanes who play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final later Thursday night.

Carolina is +145 to hoist the Cup while Colorado is +210. Vegas sits at +350 and Montreal at +600. It’s a reminder of how quickly things can shift.

Trailing 3-0 in the third period on Wednesday the Avs got goals from Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog to make things interesting. It felt like a flashback to Game 5 against the Wild when Colorado erased a 3-0 deficit and pulled out a magical OT win.

But after a look from Nathan MacKinnon to potentially tie the game 3-3, the Knights scored an empty-netter and fans filed out of Ball Arena disappointed. It was the fist home loss of the postseason for the Avalanche.

The good news is the oddsmakers don’t play the game. A win in Game 2 on Friday night and these will move back in Colorado’s direction.

It’ll be the biggest game of the year to date as falling in a 2-0 series hole would be far from ideal heading to the desert for Games 3 and 4. Plus, the health of superstar Cale Makar is a massive lingering question.

We’ll see how it shakes out, but every great journey has some adversity along the way.

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