{"id":1747,"date":"2026-05-27T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1747"},"modified":"2026-05-27T07:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:05:00","slug":"golden-knights-sweep-avalanche-to-advance-to-third-stanley-cup-final-in-nine-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1747","title":{"rendered":"Golden Knights sweep Avalanche to advance to third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vegas Golden Knights right wing Cole Smith (22) celebrates after scoring against the Colorado Avalanche during the third period in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Brayden McNabb hit Mark Stone in stride with a lob pass in the first period for a highlight reel of a play, but it was the gritty work of the Golden Knights\u2019 defense that ultimately put Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>

Read more Dodgers\u2019 Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez likely sidelined by a left oblique strain after a scorching return<\/a><\/p>\n

The Golden Knights limited the Avalanche\u2019s high-powered offense all series and then suffocated it Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

That defense, aided by goals from Stone and Cole Smith, led to a 2-1 victory and an unthinkable sweep of Colorado for the Knights\u2019 third final in nine seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s by far our best game,\u201d said Vegas coach John Tortorella, whose team was 30-1 at Caesars Sportsbook at the beginning of the series to sweep. \u201c(Checking is) something we\u2019ve been concentrating on, and I think we\u2019ve gotten better and better through the rounds. But tonight\u2019s game was our best checking effort, and that\u2019s a hell of a hockey team we played over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Golden Knights will get a break while they watch to see whether Carolina or Montreal emerges from the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n

This is a crushing end for an Avalanche team that won the Presidents\u2019 Trophy and had blown through the playoffs with an 8-1 record. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to claim the Presidents\u2019 Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran into a buzz saw in Vegas,\u201d Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. \u201cI think they deserved the credit. It\u2019s not a knock on how hard they played, but they\u2019re a well-oiled machine right now, peaking at the right time. I look at their series and man-to-man they\u2019re playing at the top of their game. We\u2019ll have to regroup and reassess and reflect on our season and the series and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

With several Las Vegas Raiders players looking on, including quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza, the Golden Knights got on the scoreboard when McNabb delivered a perfect pass to Stone. Not known for elite skating ability, Stone nevertheless got behind the Avalanche, caught the puck and scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not winning a ton of races,\u201d Stone said. \u201cI think I can create angles to get into those positions. That\u2019s probably why I\u2019ve had quite a few breakaways in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the only goal until Smith tipped in Dylan Coghlan\u2019s shot from the point with 5:45 left for a critical two-goal margin.<\/p>\n

Carter Hart stopped 20 shots, coming within 2:03 of his first playoff shutout in six years.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Landeskog ended that shutout, one of the few highlights of the night for the Avalanche, who went the final 14:23 of the second period without a shot on goal and more than 25 minutes with just one shot.<\/p>

Read more Mackenzie Blackwood plays well, just not well enough, as Avalanche swept from playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Hart said he thought the Golden Knights defense \u201c100%\u201d frustrated the Avalanche.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think once we scored that first goal, in the second and third period we just kind of locked it down and kept pressure on them,\u201d Hart said. \u201cWe did a great job. We had some huge blocks tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just this night. Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 goals in the regular season, failed to hit the back of the net in any of the four games. Martin Necas, who had 100 points, totaled just two in this series.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche averaged a league-high 3.63 goals during the regular season and in the first two rounds upped that to 4.11. Against the Golden Knights? It was 1.75.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you look back at the four games, there are definitely times where we found our game,\u201d Landeskog said. \u201cI think the problem was we found ways to lose hockey games. I think over the course of the regular season, in the first two rounds, it was the opposite. Even if we didn\u2019t have our A-game, we were finding different ways to win hockey games, and against this good of a hockey team in the Golden Knights, they\u2019ll make you pay for your mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Blackwood, making his first start in the series, gave the Avalanche a chance to win with several dazzling saves en route to 24 saves overall. His best stop came late in the second period when he lunged to glove a power-play shot from Pavel Dorofeyev.<\/p>\n

The journey to the final isn\u2019t quite the Cinderella story of the Golden Knights\u2019 first team that made the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 before losing in five games to Washington<\/a> , but Vegas\u2019 voyage to this point was far from expected.<\/p>\n

The Golden Knights faced the possibility of not making the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history when management fired coach Bruce Cassidy<\/a> , who led the club to the 2023 title<\/a> , with eight games left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

In came Tortorella, who validated the controversial decision by leading Vegas to a 7-0-1 record to close the regular season and then series victories over Utah<\/a> and Anaheim<\/a> . Then the Golden Knights faced an Avalanche team on a roll and without any sign of slowing down.<\/p>\n

At least until facing Vegas.<\/p>\n

Bednar searched for answers against the Golden Knights, even changing goalies<\/a> on Tuesday. The Avalanche also dealt with injuries to their top two players this series \u2014 reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar and MacKinnon, a Hart Trophy finalist.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Golden Knights had their own injury issues, winning the first two games of the series without Stone<\/a> .<\/p>

Read more Sparked by Alex Caruso, the Thunder bench steps up again in Game 5 win<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/stanley-cup<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Stone and Cole Smith scored for Vegas and the Golden Knights suffocated Colorado\u2019s high-powered offense to beat the Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night and for an unthinkable sweep to make their third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nGolden Knights sweep Avalanche to advance to third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1747\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Golden Knights sweep Avalanche to advance to third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons - 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