Vegas Golden Knights (39-26-17, in the Pacific Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (55-16-11, in the Central Division)
Denver; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EDT
LINE: Avalanche -196, Golden Knights +163; over/under is 6
STANLEY CUP SEMIFINALS: Avalanche host series opener
BOTTOM LINE: The Colorado Avalanche host the Vegas Golden Knights to start the Western Conference finals. The teams meet Saturday for the fourth time this season. The Avalanche went 2-1 against the Golden Knights during the regular season. In their last regular season matchup on April 11, the Golden Knights won 3-2 in overtime. Pavel Dorofeyev led the Golden Knights with two goals.
Colorado has a 31-9-6 record in home games and a 55-16-11 record overall. The Avalanche have a 54-6-6 record in games they score three or more goals.
Vegas is 23-16-8 in road games and 39-26-17 overall. The Golden Knights have gone 45-7-11 when scoring at least three goals.
TOP PERFORMERS: Brock Nelson has scored 33 goals with 32 assists for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon has seven goals and six assists over the last 10 games.
Mark Stone has 28 goals and 44 assists for the Golden Knights. Dorofeyev has nine goals and two assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Avalanche: 9-1-0, averaging 3.9 goals, 6.2 assists, 3.9 penalties and eight penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game.
Golden Knights: 7-3-0, averaging 3.8 goals, 6.1 assists, 3.7 penalties and 8.9 penalty minutes while giving up 2.5 goals per game.
INJURIES: Avalanche: Artturi Lehkonen: day to day (upper-body), Brent Burns: day to day (undisclosed), Cale Makar: day to day (undisclosed), Sam Malinski: day to day (upper-body).
Golden Knights: Jeremy Lauzon: out (upper-body), Mark Stone: day to day (lower-body).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.