Mark Stone and Cole Smith scored as the Vegas Golden Knights shut down Colorado’s explosive offense to secure a 2-1 victory over the Avalanche on Tuesday night, completing a surprising series sweep and advancing to their third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons, News.Az reports, citing AP.

Vegas will now await the winner of the Eastern Conference Final between Carolina and Montreal.

The defeat marked a disappointing end for Colorado, which entered the playoffs after winning the Presidents’ Trophy and had dominated the postseason with an 8-1 record before the series.

The 2013 Chicago Blackhawks remain the last NHL team to win both the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

Stone opened the scoring for Vegas after receiving a long lob pass from Brayden McNabb deep in the Golden Knights’ zone. Stone controlled the puck, broke in alone on goal and converted the chance.

Cole Smith later extended the lead by deflecting Dylan Coghlan’s point shot with 5:45 remaining in regulation, giving Vegas a crucial two-goal cushion.

Carter Hart stopped 20 shots, coming within 2:03 of his first playoff shutout in six years.

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 22 minutes with just one shot.

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.

The journey to the Cup Final isn’t quite the Cinderella story of the Golden Knights’ first team that made the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 before losing in five games to Washington, but Vegas’ journey to this point was far from expected.

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, who led the club to the 2023 title, with eight games left in the regular season.

In came John 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 and Anaheim. Then the Golden Knights faced an Avalanche team on a roll and without any sign of slowing down.

At least until facing Vegas.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar searched for answers against the Golden Knights, even changing goalies on Tuesday. The Avalanche also dealt with injuries to their top two players this series — reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar and Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon.

The Golden Knights had their own injury issues, winning the first two games of the series without Stone.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev