Things just got even worse after another superstar was ruled out following the Cale Makar news
Mark Stone is out for Game 1, and John Tortorella gave Vegas the answer it did not want before puck drop.
That is the biggest development heading into the Western Conference Final opener against Colorado.
Stone missed the last 3 games of the Anaheim series, and now Vegas will start this round without its captain too.
The timing hurts.
Stone is not just another winger in this lineup. He is one of the club's smartest two-way forwards and one of the few players who can slow a game down when things start getting loose.
That matters even more against Nathan MacKinnon and a Colorado team that can turn one bad shift into a flood.
Earlier in the day, Stone skated with the scratches, and that gave people a little hope. Instead, it turned into the clearest sign that he was not dressing.
Fans are stunned after another superstar was scratched moments before puck drop
The update from Emily Kaplan was the one that really locked it in. She said Stone made the trip and skated, but that usually points to a player staying out of the lineup.
So Tortorella's no-update line only hid the obvious for a few more minutes.
Now the pressure shifts straight onto the rest of the Golden Knights forward group.
Somebody has to replace Stone's details. Somebody has to take those harder minutes. Somebody has to help carry the emotional weight that usually comes with the captain being in the middle of everything.
That is not easy to patch in May.
This is also why the concern around Stone keeps getting louder. The article points back to his history, including serious back trouble and long stretches lost to injury over the past few years.
He has always found a way to come back and matter when it counts.
That is part of what made his 2023 playoff run so impressive. He looked like himself when Vegas needed him most.
Now the question is not only whether he can return later in this series. It is how much the Golden Knights can hold the line without him until that happens.
Game 1 was already a hard assignment.
Without Mark Stone, it gets a lot harder.
And for Tortorella, the silence around the injury may protect the team publicly, but it does not change the hockey truth in front of it. Vegas is opening the conference final without its captain, and that is a big hole against a club like Colorado.
Source : A major update on Mark Stone just moments before Game 1
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LIVE
MAY 20, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| Ross Colton | - | - | - | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | - | - | - | |
| Nic Dowd | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Jack Eichel | - | - | - | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | - | - | |
| Carter Hart | - | - | - | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | - | - | |
| Brett Howden | - | - | - | |
| Ben Hutton | - | - | - | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | - | - | |
| William Karlsson | - | - | - | |
| Parker Kelly | - | - | - | |
| Keegan Kolesar | - | - | - | |
| Brett Kulak | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||