- Avs blew a 3-0 first-period lead and lost Game 3 to Vegas, 5-3
- Bednar said it’s “as low as it can get” after Colorado fell into a 3-0 series hole
- Read below for the full quote, scrum video, and Game 4 details
It’s as low as it gets in Denver right now.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar didn’t sugarcoat it Sunday night after his team coughed up a 3-0 first-period lead and dropped Game 3 to the Golden Knights, 5-3, at T-Mobile Arena. Colorado is now staring at a sweep.
“It’s as low as it can get,” Bednar told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “You’ve got a big hill to climb. You’ve got to find a way to get over it and regroup.”
Watch the full post-game scrum:
Colorado had this one cooked. Gabriel Landeskog finished a net-front rebound at 3:21 of the first. Nazem Kadri scored about four minutes later. Then Jack Drury broke in shorthanded and made it 3-0 before the period was halfway done.
Vegas had other ideas.
Mark Stone, back in the lineup after missing the first two games of the series, buried a power-play goal early in the second. William Karlsson cleaned up a rebound a few minutes after that. Keegan Kolesar tipped a Dylan Coghlan shot to tie the game in the third. Tomas Hertl beat Scott Wedgewood with a backhander to give the Knights their first lead with eight minutes left, and Brett Howden iced it into an empty net.
Catch the full highlights:
The numbers are ugly. Colorado was 49-0 in games when leading by three goals this season. Sunday ended that streak. The franchise’s all-time record when leading by three or more dropped to 74-1. No team in the round before the Stanley Cup Final has ever erased a 3-0 deficit, and only four clubs in NHL history have done it in any best-of-seven.
Denver hasn’t seen a series sweep since 2008. The Avs finished the regular season 55-16-11 and won the Presidents’ Trophy. Game 4 goes Tuesday in Vegas.
