There was to be no miracle comeback on this Wednesday evening.

Although the Colorado Avalanche tried their darnedest, they weren’t able to erase a three-goal deficit for the second Wednesday in a row. The Vegas Golden Knights bent but did not break in the third period, taking Game 1 4-2. For the first time this postseason, the Avalanche have gone from being the hunted to being the hunter.

They’ve got confidence that they’ll be able to bounce back.

“It’s not like we haven’t lost games this year and bounced back,” head coach Jared Bednar said after the loss. “I was saying this morning that generally when we address things as a group that we need to be better at and give them clear direction, we are usually better at them.”

“I got a lot of belief in the group. I’m not panicking about it but next game is obviously a big game.”

The first 30 minutes of Game 1 gave fans an idea of what they can expect throughout the series. There were swings in momentum that you can expect this time of year, with Vegas sustaining pressure in Colorado’s zone and then the Avalanche giving it right back. That first goal was going to be important.

This time, it went to Vegas.

“Just read high glove,” Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood said of the shot that went through his legs. “He got a lot of pace on it, but not his release. Just hard to close it once you’re spread. I don’t know if it was spinning on his stick, but he got a lot of pace on it. His release just wasn’t going there, so if it was, it was a hell of a fake. Just read one thing and unfortunately wasn’t able to close up in time.”

Wedgewood said there were no surprises. They knew it was going to be a tight series with two strong defensive teams. The Golden Knights punched first.

Now the Avalanche know they have to punch back.

“Get it right back next game,” Wedgewood said. “You win that one, evenly split.”

Ultimately, there are plenty of areas where the Avalanche can improve. They got some opportunities but the Golden Knights did a good job of clogging lanes and getting bodies in front of shots. The absence of Cale Makar was noticeable at times, especially when all of Colorado’s defensemen combined to have 15 of their shot attempts blocked.

One of those shot blocks ended up leading to the game-winning goal. A Brett Howden block on a Sam Malinski shot led to an odd-man rush the other way that Vegas ultimately capitalized on.

“Some of the areas that we struggled with tonight, those are (Makar’s) strengths,” Bednar said.

Still, whether or not the star defensemen is back in the lineup on Friday night, the Avalanche know they have to be better.

“We just weren’t sharp, execution was poor from everybody. Yeah, just gotta be sharper than that,” Nathan MacKinnon said.

Golden Knights 4, Avalanche 2

What happened: A three-goal lead was too much for the Avalanche to overcome.

What went right: The two most effective forwards on the Avalanche might have been Valeri Nichushkin and Ross Colton. While Colton did take a penalty in the second period that ended up costing the Avalanche, the team wasn’t terribly happy with the call as they felt Rasmus Andersson sold it. It’s also a similar play to one that went uncalled in the first period when Brayden McNabb punched Nazem Kadri after the whistle. Nichushkin and Colton combined for Colorado’s first goal. Nichushkin deflected the Colton pass from between his legs to beat Carter Hart.

What went wrong: Colorado’s top line struggled to the point where Bednar broke them up in the third period. “I felt like that group was a little spread out tonight and not as connected as they needed to be against their d-zone schemes in order to create some time,” Bednar said of the MacKinnon line.

Avalanche goal scorers: Nichushkin (2), Landeskog (4)

Golden Knights goal scorers: Coghlan (1), Dorofeyev (10), Howden (9), Dowd (3)

Between the pipes: Wedgewood finished with 24 saves.

What’s next: Game 2 between these two teams takes place at 6 p.m. Friday.