LAS VEGAS (AP) — Just when the Avalanche got back reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, Colorado might be without Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon.
Or, at least, will have a highly limited MacKinnon, which was what he was after taking a puck to his right knee in Sunday night's 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
It's been that kind of series for the Avalanche, the Presidents' Trophy winners going down 3-0 in the Western Conference Final. With the possibility of being swept Tuesday night, coach Jared Bednar will take MacKinnon in any form he can get him.
“For him to be able to come back out, get some work done late in the second period and intermission and be able to come out and even help us on the power play and empty-net situations, if that’s all he can do, we’ll take it," Bednar said. "It’s better than anything else, in my opinion, we can put on the ice.”
That comment could get plenty of attention in the Avalanche locker room, but as it is, the Golden Knights have Colorado's full focus.
The odds might have been in the Avalanche's favor before the series began — the team with the league's best record going against one so desperate to make the playoffs that it fired its coach with eight games remaining — but not now.
The numbers, in fact, are daunting.
This is the 50th time in the conference finals or league semifinals that a series has gone to 3-0. All previous 49 teams with that advantage went on to make the Stanley Cup Final, with 47 ending the series in six games or fewer.
Only four teams have erased 3-0 deficits in any round. Los Angeles in 2014 was the most recent team to accomplish that in eliminating San Jose in their first-round series.
And then there's the so-called Presidents' Trophy curse. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to claim that and the Stanley Cup in the same season. Colorado already had firsthand knowledge of the difficulty of pulling off the double, winning the Presidents' Trophy in the 2021 COVID-shortened season before going out in six games in the second round ... to the Golden Knights.
“There’s going to be a sense of urgency, but it’s got to be smart urgency,” defenseman Josh Manson said. "It’s got to be desperation. It’s got to be our best style of play the whole night. You’ve got to maintain that sense of do or die, while playing up to the edge. That’s what makes it so difficult.
“The margin of error is so thin now, and you’ve got to be able to balance that for at least 12 periods.”
It will take at least that many periods for the Avalanche to accomplish what no other team has done this deep into the playoffs. They will have to play like the team that looked like the NHL's best for six months and then the first two rounds of the playoffs when they went 8-1.
“We know where we’re at,” wing Martin Necas said. “We know it doesn’t happen very often, but we still feel confident in this group. It’s not like we’ve been outplayed every game and their team is better than ours. We had a lot of stretches this season where we won four in a row. So we just focus on the next game and take it home and anything can happen.”
Getting it back to Denver for Game 5 would be a start.
“Our team's played with more intensity and more desperation as the series (has) gone on,” Bednar said. "Hasn’t worked out for us yet. I think with the hill to climb, it’s definitely a tough one. It just doesn’t happen very often, and we’re certainly understanding of that, but I think we have a lot of pride and a lot of character in our room that displayed that time over time throughout the course of the year,
"This will be our most difficult challenge, but I believe that we will show up and we will be ready to play.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri, right, celebrates his goal with center Martin Necas during the first period in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Members of the against the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate an empty net goal by Brett Howden as Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon skates by during the third period in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Emergency officials lifted an evacuation order Monday for some of the people who live near a damaged tank containing hazardous chemicals in Southern California after temperatures inside the tank fell enough to eliminate the risk of a catastrophic explosion.
There is no longer a risk of catastrophic explosion of the tank containing methyl methacrylate at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant in Garden Grove, near Los Angeles, Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said during a news conference.
Officials ordered about 50,000 Garden Grove residents to evacuate their homes on Friday after the tank overheated and pressure built up inside. A crack that was discovered Sunday has relieved some of that pressure and the temperature of the highly flammable gas inside is continuing to fall, authorities said.
An overnight evaluation of the tank containing 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate produced “incredibly positive news,” Covey said earlier Monday, although the risk to public safety is “ongoing.”
Authorities have detected no hazardous chemical levels as of Monday.
Officials said they needed to cool the tank to prevent a toxic leak or explosion. The tank’s interior had cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), Covey said Monday, down from 100 degrees (37.7 degrees C) a day earlier.
The tank might eventually cool enough for crews to safely stabilize and drain the remaining material without triggering a spark or ignition, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor who has studied environmental contamination.
Whelton cautioned there is still some risk of an explosion while the chemical inside the tank remains hot and reactive. He said temperatures need to fall closer to ambient levels — roughly 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 21.1 degrees C) — before conditions are considered significantly safer.
After the tank overheated on Thursday and pressure built, officials said it began releasing vapors. As the interior temperature rises, methyl methacrylate — which is used to make plastics — converts from liquid to gas, increasing the pressure and risk of explosion, Whelton said.
Some of the methyl methacrylate may already have hardened into a stable plastic similar to plexiglass, reducing the risk inside the tank, he said.
The release of pressure likely released at least some chemical into the atmosphere, and what responders are able to detect depends partly on the type and placement of monitoring equipment.
“If the device isn’t right next to the tank, then it’s not necessarily surprising that they’re not detecting high magnitudes of chemicals,” Whelton said.
Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to an EPA fact sheet.
Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and people may notice it over a large area without being harmed.
Authorities have not defined what a catastrophic explosion might mean, but said Monday the worst-case scenario is off the table.
Kim Yen, a retiree who was forced to evacuate her Garden Grove home, said she has been closely following the news and was relieved to learn that the worst has passed.
“I am happy and many of us are happy but, still, we are still on our evacuation,” she said.
Yen, who lives two blocks from the plant, said she’s ready to return home but first wants to be sure it’s safe. And, she said, she’s been worried about the emergency crews.
“They are really our heroes,” Yen said.
The parking lot was full Monday at a large park in Fountain Valley, just southwest of Garden Grove, as people sought refuge in an ad hoc shelter there or pitched tents outside. Other people gathered in the park to enjoy Memorial Day.
GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which owns the plant, is a British company that makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields for military and commercial aircraft.
GKN Aerospace technical specialists and the Orange County Fire Authority removed external insulation material from the tank to help cool its contents, according to a GKN Aerospace statement released Monday.
“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible,” the statement said.
GKN Aerospace says on its website that it employs about 16,000 people across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries and supplies technologies and components used by major commercial and military aircraft manufacturers worldwide.
It remained unknown when the operation would reopen.
GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.
Disruptions at facilities producing specialized aircraft components can be difficult for the global aerospace industry to absorb because supply chains are highly concentrated and already strained, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the aerospace consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory.
Aboulafia said aerospace manufacturing differs from many other industries because aircraft production rates are relatively low, leaving only a small number of suppliers for many specialized parts and systems.
“There’s just not a lot of margin in the system,” he said.
Willingham reported from Boston. Stengle reported from Dallas. Associated Press journalist Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California, contributed to this report.
People tend to their pets outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
People walk outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An American Red Cross volunteer walks outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif.,on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The streets remain empty in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after a storage tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday at an aerospace plastics facility. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Emergency personnel work at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Cypress, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
