UPDATE (11:13 a.m. April 12): Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar will miss the next two games after getting hit in the face with a puck Saturday night. Read the story here.
Much of Jared Bednar’s to-do list over Colorado’s final four regular-season games involves injury management ahead of the postseason.
He just probably didn’t think he would end up on the list.
The Avalanche coach left the home bench early in the third period of Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Golden Knights after getting hit in the right cheek with a puck lifted off the ice by Las Vegas winger Keegan Kolesar.
Bednar doubled over after getting hit in the right side of his head as top-line forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and others all turned to check on him.
After a few moments, Bednar was helped down the tunnel by training staff with a towel pressed over his right temple and head.
Bednar did not return to the bench area for the final 16 minutes, 39 seconds of regulation or overtime.
The Avs fell in overtime, 3-2, when the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel drilled a wrist shot past Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Bednar is “fully alert and fully conscious,” a team spokesperson said after the game, but was set to be transported to a local hospital for a CT scan and further evaluation.
“Obviously I hope he’s OK,” captain Gabe Landeskog said. “That was a scary situation.”
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brett Kulak, left, checks Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alexander Holtz in the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Vegas locks up playoff berth against No. 1 seed
Two nights after securing the President’s Trophy and rendering their final four regular-season games academic, the Avalanche took the ice Saturday night as the hockey undercard in the state.
Moments before the puck dropped at Ball Arena, the crowd went wild as the jumbotron showed the DU Pioneers finish off a 2-1 national championship win over Wisconsin out in Las Vegas.
Unlike the Pios, who searched for offense much of the night before finding a late flurry, the Avs generated scoring chances early and a first-period lead when Devon Toews hammered home a power play goal 9 minutes, 17 seconds in.
Bedar said Thursday he and the staff would consider how to handle playing time and minutes down the stretch after clinching the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed and every other advantage out there to be had.
For this night, he settled on letting his guys play and at least one inched toward a career milestone. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, had plenty to play for and locked up a playoff spot with the win.
Martin Necas tallied point No. 99 on the season when he assisted on Toews’ opening goal. He needs one more to crest 100 points for the first time in his career.
Vegas leveled the game on a Mark Stone power play goal later in the first period and took a 2-1 lead early in the second before Colorado defenseman Nick Blankenburg scored his first goal in an Avs sweater since being acquired at the trade deadline last month.
Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel reacts after scoring the winning goal in overtime of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
With most of its regulars skating but two key pieces still out — Cale Makar missed his sixth straight game due to an upper body injury and Nazem Kadri a second straight due to a finger issue — Colorado generated more scoring chances through the first two periods than Las Vegas.
Among the best: Logan O’Connor skating in alone shorthanded on Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart but getting stopped at the doorstep.
It’ll still go down as a good Saturday for O’Connor, a former Denver University alum whose college team won its 11th title and whose campus went wild just south of Ball Arena.
Landeskog said there were periods where his team “dominated” but also periods where “they were in our zone. I liked our d-zone coverage at that point. Kept them, for the most part, to the outside. I liked our start, first period, quite a bit. They got kind of a fluky bounce, nice play by Stone to tap that one down to himself and put it in. There was good and there was not-so-good. There’s definitely things we can improve on, but overall a competitive game.”
Blackwood started in the net for Colorado and, after the back-to-back goals across the first intermission, settled into a rhythm. He made a series of high-quality stops in the third period and finished with 26 saves on 29 Vegas shots.
After Bendar left the bench, assistant Dave Hakstol took over most duties while fellow assistant Nolan Pratt communicated heavily with Colorado’s defensemen.
It provided quite a wrinkle in what otherwise shaped up to be a straightforward final week of the regular season.
“Certainly it’s a little unnerving,” Pratt said. “It’s scary when pucks are flying in there. It happens all the time and it was unfortunate tonight. It takes a second to recalibrate and get back to it.”
Now three games remain before the playoffs. Vegas is a possible, albeit unlikely, first-round opponent for Colorado, which knows its destiny even as a glut of teams jockey for position down ballot.
Bednar had said he hopes Makar will be back on the ice for at least some regular-season minutes, though at this point it remains to be seen whether that will happen during an early week road swing through Edmonton and Calgary or perhaps Thursday back in Denver for the regular-season finale against Seattle.
In addition to Bednar catching an errant puck, defenseman Josh Manson left the game with an upper body injury, the team announced during the third period, and did not return.
Pratt did not have an update on Manson, saying he’s still being evaluated.
