Wayne Gretzky joined The Pat McAfee Show to analyze the Colorado Avalanche’s path through the Western Conference Finals.

Gretzky gave his take on how the Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights stack up after Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals Series. “I really liked Colorado all year," said the 65-year-old.

"One of the things I liked about Colorado is that they faced some adversity during the season, and they still finished first overall," he added.

This led to Wayne Gretzky alluding to how the Boston Bruins had all the success and faced “no adversity” going into the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs before losing to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference first round.

Notably, in the 2022-23 campaign, the Bruins set the record for most wins and points in a single NHL regular season, with a 65-12-5 record, scoring 135 points in 82 games. Meanwhile, the Panthers finished in fourth place in the Atlantic Division.

Wayne Gretzky was also concerned for the Avalanche after their alternate captain and defenseman, Cale Makar, missed out on Game 1. He was sidelined due to an upper-body injury sustained during Game 5 of the Western Conference second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild.

“Taking him out of the line-up… is a big hole to fill. You just don’t replace Cale Makar. It is as simple as that,” Gretzky remarked.

Wayne Gretzky was impressed with the experienced Vegas Golden Knights roster

Wayne Gretzky was not surprised by the Vegas Golden Knights finding a way into the Western Conference Finals after beating the Utah Mammoth and the Anaheim Ducks during their NHL playoff run so far.

"(Vegas) are veteran team. They play properly. They are unselfish. They play hard. And they are getting great goaltending from Carter Hart… I said this when they won the Stanley Cup," said Wayne Gretzky.

"Jack Eichel was a superstar in that playoff run, and he is good for them, solid for them this year also... “So Vegas is going to be a tough out, but Colorado is good,” he concluded.

The Knights managed to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals series. While playing away from home at the Ball Arena in Denver, Vegas won Game 1, 4-2 on Thursday before doing the job against Colorado once more, beating them 3-1 in Game 2 last night.

On Tuesday, May 26, the Golden Knights will take on the Avalanche at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for Game 3 of the finals series.

Will the Vegas Golden Knights get a step closer to winning the Western Conference Finals Series against the Colorado Avalanche next week? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi