Carter Hart made 36 saves as Vegas Golden Knights defeated Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Game 1 of their 2026 Western Conference finals. The Knights look to take a 2-0 series lead while the top-seeded Avs aim to avoid falling behind at home in this best-of-seven matchup between two championship contenders.

The Avalanche enter Game 2 as -201 favorites with the over/under set at 6.5 goals. SportsLine's projection model, which has returned $668 on top-rated NHL picks, predicts 6.7 combined goals between the teams after simulating the matchup 10,000 times. The model favors the Over hitting 53% of the time.

The model projects Nathan MacKinnon to lead Colorado with 0.84 points per simulation, while Jack Eichel (0.61) and Mark Stone (0.56) top Vegas. With both teams ranking among the NHL's highest scorers this season, the SportsLine model identifies one money line side with significant value for Game 2.