The Vegas Golden Knights grabbed an early edge in the Western Conference Final, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Wednesday night at Ball Arena to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

After a quiet first period, Vegas broke through in the second when Dylan Coghlan fired a wrist shot past Scott Wedgewood for his first NHL playoff goal. The veteran defenseman, who spent much of the season in the AHL before rejoining the lineup because of injuries, helped spark a strong Vegas performance on both ends of the ice.

Pavel Dorofeyev extended the lead on the power play less than three minutes later, scoring his playoff-leading 10th goal after a setup from Mitch Marner, who continued his productive postseason with another assist. Early in the third period, Brett Howden pushed the advantage to 3-0 by batting down a rebound and slipping the puck into an open net.

Colorado finally responded midway through the third when Valeri Nichushkin scored, and Gabriel Landeskog later added a power-play goal with 2:21 remaining to cut the deficit to one. However, Nic Dowd sealed the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Goaltender Carter Hart was outstanding for Vegas, stopping 36 shots and repeatedly frustrating Colorado’s offense as the Golden Knights blocked 23 shots and controlled much of the neutral zone play.

Colorado also struggled defensively while adjusting to the absence of star defenseman Cale Makar, who missed the game with an upper-body injury. Miscommunication on the blue line contributed to several Vegas scoring chances “There’s definitely a trickle-down effect to that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of not having Makar. “But he’s not playing. We have find a way.”

The Golden Knights and Avalanche will meet for Game 2 of the Western Conference Final at Ball Arena on Friday.

Editorial credit: Jeff Whyte / Shutterstock.com (Golden Knights)