Get well, Cale.

Or the Avalanche are in deep doo-doo against the Vegas Golden Knights.

After the Golden Knights laid a 4-2 whupping on the Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference final Wednesday night, one question buzzed through my mind at Ball Arena: Does anyone have an upper body Cale Makar can borrow? 

Makar was a surprising scratch due to an upper-body injury he suffered quite a while ago. Not surprising, opportunistic Vegas saw a golden opportunity to shift home-ice advantage to the desert with a 1-0 series lead.

“Our players aren’t fazed,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said.

After needing only nine games to advance through two rounds, a franchise record, the Avalanche face adversity for the first time in this postseason. And Makar’s availability for Game 2 on Friday remains a mystery.

He skated prior to morning skate Wednesday, but Jared Bednar soon said he would not play. Cale is day-to-day, he said.

Aren’t we all?

The coach said he “expects” Makar to return. When? Good luck squeezing injury details from a hockey coach. These guys have never heard that secrets don’t make friends.

How important is Makar to the Avalanche? On a national radio program early Wednesday, former Avs defenseman Erik Johnson compared Makar’s absence to an NBA lineup missing LeBron James. Pretty important.

This series was going to be a serious battle for the Avalanche with Makar, a six-time Norris Trophy finalist. If Nathan MacKinnon is the engine of the Avs, it’s Makar who serves as the conductor.

And without him the Avs were disjointed. Their usual bing-bang-boom wasn’t there. They missed passes they usually make. They gave up goals they don’t usually give up, such as the goal that staked the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.

Vegas defenseman Dylan Coghlan had not scored since 2021. Yet he skated straight up the gut to slip one past Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood and quiet Ball Arena.

That wouldn’t happen with Makar on the ice.

“I mean, he’s an important player. And he plays a lot,” Bednar said. “Some of the areas that we struggled with tonight, those are his strengths.”

After Vegas built a 3-0 lead, the Avalanche showed life with Valeri Nichushkin’s nifty goal in the third period. Quiet for much of the Wild series, Nichushkin chipped the puck between his legs and over the shoulder pads of Knights goalie Carter Hart. Gabriel Landeskog then scored, summoning Ball Arena to life. It felt like the 3-0 comeback against the Wild all over again.

But the Knights have been in this situation so many times before. The Wild had not.

“We’re trying to play our game,” Tortorella said.

No one’s making excuses for an Avalanche lineup loaded for bear and firmly in a Cup-or-bust state. But without Makar, the best defenseman in hockey, Colorado has met its equal in Vegas. Both have championship DNA. Both have high-end goal scorers. Both have goalies in the midst of career seasons.

Without Makar, it’s a matchup that shows all the signs of a seven-game series.

Vegas is in the conference final for the fifth time in nine seasons. The Knights know better than to let opportunities slip away. And opening the series against an Avalanche lineup missing Makar was a golden one.

Makar doesn’t miss many games. He played 77, 80 and 75 games over the past three seasons. If he’s missing a playoff game, the Avs either got cocky or No. 8 is in some serious pain.

“There’s definitely a trickle-down effect to (missing Makar),” Bednar said. “But he’s not playing. You have to find a way.”

Yes, there is a precedent for an Avalanche outfit overcoming injury to a star player in the playoffs. 

It was May 10, 2001, when the great Peter Forsberg underwent surgery on a ruptured spleen after Game 7 of a Western Conference semifinal. The Avalanche recovered to win the Stanley Cup.

It was May 13, 2026, when Makar left the ice nursing an apparent shoulder or arm injury in Game 5 of a Western Conference semifinal. The injury likely occurred long before that. 

“We did it all year,” Wedgewood said late Wednesday. “We bounce right back.”

With Makar, the advantage goes to the Avalanche. Without him, this is an even-steven matchup.

All hail Cale? Get well, Cale.