Winners, losers from Wednesday's Stanley Cup playoffs: Golden Knights hang on to take Game 1

The NHL's Western Conference Finals began on Wednesday night with the Vegas Golden Knights holding on for a 4-2 Game 1 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

Let's take a look at some winners and losers from the night.

Wednesday's winners

Vegas getting off to a fast start. This is a big deal for Vegas because it had slow starts to both of its first two series wins this postseason. The Golden Knights could not afford to drop an early game on the road, and they could not miss the opportunity to pick up a win when the Avalanche were playing without their top defenseman in Cale Makar.

This was a game that was there for the taking, and they got it. 

Now they have wrestled home-ice advantage away and get an early jump on the series. 

Pavel Dorofeyev's bank account. Dorofeyev is a restricted free agent after this season and is playing his way into an absolutely massive contract.

After scoring 37 goals during the regular season, his second straight season with at least 35 goals, he has followed it up with 10 goals so far in the playoffs.

He added to his playoff goal total on Wednesday to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead in the second period. He might be the best home-grown player the Golden Knights have developed in their existence, and it is going to cost them big money to make sure he does not get away. It helps that he is a restricted free agent, but they might need to get creative to fit his next salary cap number in.

Mitch Marner's continued playoff brilliance. Marner continues to rewrite the narrative around his playoff career, and added another assist on Wednesday. And it was a beauty of a play.