The Avs saved their biggest choke of this NHL season for when it mattered most.

Until this sad Friday night that seems doomed to live in infamy in franchise history, the Avalanche’s record this season when leading after two periods was 45-0-0.

But all that perfection got tossed in the dumpster as a piece of meaningless trivia by the shame of a brutal 3-1 playoff loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

In a span of a little more than two sunsets over the Rocky Mountains, Colorado went from the proud owner of the Presidents’ Trophy for its impressive 121 points in the regular season to an unenviable spot between a rock and a hard place, pinned with a 2-0 deficit in this best-of-seven series.

“I feel we’ll fight till the bitter end,” said Jared Bednar, the best regular-season coach in the hockey business.

The playoffs are where, far too often, Bednar’s teams do their worst work.

The Avs lost this game, their grip on this series and their right to be called the Stanley Cup favorite at 5:28 p.m., more than a half hour before the puck dropped in Game 2.

That’s when Colorado defenseman Cale Makar walked in dead silence down a hallway, past the beautiful people chowing down in the arena’s club dining hall.

Instead of a burgundy and blue sweater, Makar wore a stylish brown suit that concealed his banged-up right shoulder and stared dead ahead, toward the Avs’ dressing room, with steely eyes unable to conceal his disappointment at being unable to participate in Game 2.

Center Nathan MacKinnon might well be the odds-on favorite to win the Hart Trophy, but can there be any doubt now that Makar is the Avalanche’s most valuable player?

This might be harsh, but it doesn’t make it any less true:

The Vegas team coached by John Tortorella is tougher in the corner, harder on the puck and more aggressive to the net than the Avalanche.

“No, no, no,” Tortorella protested. “It’s not me.”

OK, if it’s not Torts, then maybe what’s wrong is the Avs’ lack of trust in the structure established by Bednar.

After surrendering home-ice advantage with a loss in Game 1 and without Makar as an offensive catalyst in 5-on-5 and power-play situations, this was a test to see if the Avs would blink when staring adversity in the eye.

On a spring night when Nazem Kadri was more accurate throwing hands in scrums than connecting with teammates on passes and second-line center Brock Nelson was often nowhere to be seen in the O-zone, the Avs needed goalie Scott Wedgewood to stand tall between the pipes.

Ross Colton broke the ice for a Colorado team that frankly looked uptight, scoring with a snap shot off a rebound that Knights goalie Carter Hart never saw until the puck was in the back of the Vegas net.

Until Colton’s score, Vegas had outmuscled and outplayed the Avs to a man, with the exception of their man Wedgewood.

He made a dozen saves in the opening period, none more rock-solid than when he stoned Vegas winger Mitch Marner on a breakaway. And he made the save with the serenity of a dude sipping on a lemonade while rocking in his chair on the front porch.

Teammates’ lack of offensive support for Wedgewood, however, was a joke. Defenseman Brent Burns was a bigger scoring threat than MacKinnon. What’s wrong with that picture?

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to score some goals,” Colorado captain Gabe Landeskog said.

After looking unbeatable for more than 50 minutes on the scoreboard clock, Wedgewood turned into a pumpkin and fell apart, surrendering two goals in a span of 127 agonizing seconds in the third period.

There’s only one way to describe the goal scored by Jack Eichel from a tough angle that got the Knights even: soft. As Wedgewood hugged the near post, Eichel sashayed unchallenged to the right dot and fired a prayer that somehow skipped over the right pad of Wedgewood.

“Perfect shot, but not a perfect goal … one you want back,” Wedgewood admitted.

Before the crowd in Ball Arena could catch its breath, Vegas winger Ivan Barbashev filled the joint with a sense of dread by making Wedgewood look like the career backup he is with what proved to be the game-winning score.

“Our two goals against,” Bednar said, “were just not great.”

After pulling his goalie, Bednar stood and watched instead of taking a timeout, then saw Barbashev add insult to injury with an empty-netter 63 seconds before time expired.

One victory from the Super Bowl, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix broke his ankle.

Before the NBA playoffs really got started, the Nuggets were done when forward Aaron Gordon went down.

And now the Avalanche’s magic appears as fragile as Makar’s health. 

Don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to wonder: Are championship dreams cursed in Colorado?