Dude, where’s Makar?: Avalanche playoff fate hinges on superstar’s return

LAS VEGAS — This series is officially Dude, Where’s Makar?

It has been a common refrain around the rink.

Every morning skate becomes a stakeout.

Every stride he takes is analyzed like the Zapruder film. Every shot he flips on net is treated as a clue in a medical mystery only one man can solve: Cale Makar, the most important player in a series he hasn’t even touched.

And make no mistake, if he had touched it, Colorado wouldn’t be down 2-0.

Not a hot take or a debate. 

The hockey has been spectacular.  

But as riveting as this Western Conference Final has been — two tight games in which the Colorado Avalanche looked like the slightly better team until they weren’t — the biggest headline is a guy who hasn’t played a single shift.

The will he/won’t he, can he/can’t he nature of The Makar Watch was on again Saturday, as the first question Jared Bednar was asked before his team hopped on its charter was about his post‑game comments Friday — the ones that sparked a mini‑firestorm suggesting he might be tossing his superstar under the bus by saying the decision to play was up to Makar.

But to calm the masses, Bednar clarified Saturday, and he did so with a full‑throated explanation that deserves to be printed in full: “He’s dealing with an injury, obviously, and he’s been in the gym strengthening and testing it on the ice,” said Bednar.

“Cale is the only person that knows when he’s good enough to play, that’s why it’s his decision. We know what the injury is, we know what he’s dealing with, we know that we’re going to expect him back at some point, but you got to get to a level of being comfortable with what you’re dealing with, and the pain tolerance, and depending on what he’s dealing with, he will tell us when he’s ready to play, so it’s just really as simple as that. No one can go into Cale’s body and feel what he’s feeling, so when he feels like he can do all the things he needs to be able to do on the ice to play, then he’s going to make the decision to play.”

That’s not throwing a guy under the bus. That’s a coach acknowledging the obvious: only Makar knows what that shoulder (er, upper-body injury) feels like.

The key to what Bednar said was that he expects him back.

Game 3 on Sunday (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT) feels like the moment.

Colorado didn’t just lose two games at home, it lost the luxury of patience. This playoff is Stanley Cup-or-bust for the league-leading Avs, and they’ve erred on the side of caution early, hoping to have Makar for the long haul.

Well, the runway is gone. The urgency is suffocating.

Even if he plays only while on the man advantage, that could be the difference. One goal. One seam pass. One Makar moment.

Because in a series with margins as razor‑thin as Mitch Marner, the Avs power play late Friday was downright embarrassing. Early in the third, up 1–0, they had a chance to bury Vegas. 

Instead, they fumbled the puck around like it was a live grenade.

That’s where Makar changes everything.

Of course, if he plays, he becomes the biggest target in a series featuring the league’s biggest team. Vegas is massive, structured, and ruthless in the trenches. They will test that wing legally, illegally, physically, relentlessly.

But questioning Makar’s willingness to play? Ludicrous. He’s not sitting because he’s soft. He’s sitting because he’s banged-up and because the Avs believed they could buy him time to heal.

He looks good in morning skates. The legs are there. The world-class edges are there. The deception is there. But it’s the shoulder — the hinge on which the series could swing — that remains the question.

The Avs were the better team again in Game 2. They controlled long stretches, dictated pace, and looked like the wire‑to‑wire Presidents’ Trophy winners they are. And then, for the first time in 46 games, they blew a third‑period lead.

Vegas didn’t panic. Vegas didn’t force it. Vegas waited.

And Jack Eichel, who earned kudos from his coach after the game as the game’s best 200-foot forward, delivered the kind of late‑game punch Colorado desperately needs from Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas or Brock Nelson.

Meanwhile, Carter Hart has been the better goalie. The Avs have scored three goals in two games, and that’s as much about Hart as it is about a Vegas defence that owns the space between their dots like it’s private property.

There are plenty of stats that state the obvious — the Avs are in tough.

Bednar said the room is a mix of anger and frustration. It should be.

Because the Avs aren’t losing because they’re worse. They’re losing because they’re missing the one guy who changes so much.

And until he returns, the biggest story in the Western Conference Final remains the same: