The Vegas Golden Knights are among the final four clubs in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in franchise history and will take on the Colorado Avalanche for the right to reach the Stanley Cup Final. This will mark the second time these two franchises have met in the postseason.
SERIES SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
Game 1: Wednesday, May 20 at 5 p.m. | Ball Arena
Game 2: Friday, May 22 at 5 p.m. | Ball Arena
Game 3: Sunday, May 24 at 5 p.m. | T-Mobile Arena | BUY TICKETS
Game 4: Tuesday, May 26 at 6 p.m. | T-Mobile Arena | BUY TICKETS
Game 5 (if necessary): Thursday, May 28 at 5 p.m.| Ball Arena
Game 6 (if necessary): Saturday, May 30 at 5 p.m. | T-Mobile Arena | BUY TICKETS
Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, June 1 at 5 p.m. | Ball Arena
REGULAR SEASON SERIES VS. COLORADO
The Golden Knights earned a record of 1-1-1 in the season series against the Avalanche, with two of the three games requiring overtime. In their first meeting on Oct. 31 at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights fell to the Avalanche, 4-2. Tomas Hertl and Mitch Marner scored the goals for Vegas. Colorado held a 2-0 lead through the first two periods until Hertl got Vegas on the board on the power-play to bring the Golden Knights within one. Brent Burns restored the Avalanche’s two-goal lead midway through the final frame, but two minutes later, Marner scored to make it 3-2. Vegas was unable to convert with the goaltender pulled and Cale Makar iced Colorado’s victory with an empty-net goal to make the final score 4-2.
In their next meeting, the Golden Knights hosted the Avalanche on Dec. 27 and fell 6-5 in a shootout after a back-and-forth game. Vegas got goals from five skaters: Alexander Holtz, Ivan Barbashev, Ben Hutton, Brett Howden and Colton Sissons. Holtz opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, while Barbashev made it 2-0 early in the second. After Colorado tied it midway through the period, Hutton and Howden scored 90 seconds apart to restore Vegas’ two-goal lead heading into the third. The Avalanche answered with goals from Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon to tie it 4-4, but Sissons put Vegas back ahead 5-4 with four minutes left. Artturi Lehkonen scored with two minutes remaining to force overtime, and MacKinnon netted the deciding shootout goal to hand Vegas the 6-5 loss.
In their final meeting on April 11 at Ball Arena, the Golden Knights earned a 3-2 overtime victory against the Avalanche. Vegas and Colorado exchanged power-play goals in the first period, including a tally from Mark Stone, to enter the first intermission tied at 1-1. Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring in the second period with his 36th goal of the season, but Colorado answered again to make it 2-2. A scoreless final frame led the game to overtime, where Jack Eichel was the hero just over a minute into the extra frame to secure the 3-2 victory.
Tomas Hertl (1G, 3A) and Mitch Marner (1G, 3A) led the way for the Golden Knights against the Avs during the three contests. 10 different skaters scored a goal for Vegas against Colorado this season. Martin Necas paced the Avalanche with six points (3G, 3A) against the Golden Knights. MacKinnon recorded four points (1G, 3A) in his three games against Vegas, while Brock Nelson (1G, 2A) and Sam Malinski (3A) were point-per-game players in their three appearances against VGK.
SECOND ROUND RECAP
The Golden Knights eliminated the Ducks in six games to advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time since winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. Vegas claimed Game 1 with a 3-1 victory before Anaheim answered in Game 2 to even the series at 1-1. Mitch Marner made history in Game 3, becoming the first player in Golden Knights history to record three or more points in back-to-back road games as he scored a hat trick in Vegas’ 6-2 win to reclaim the series lead. Anaheim responded with a 4-3 victory in Game 4 to tie the series, but the Golden Knights regained control with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 5 before closing out the series with a 5-1 victory in Anaheim in Game 6. Brett Howden scored his third shorthanded goal of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the series-clinching win, tying the NHL record for most shorthanded goals in a single postseason, while Pavel Dorofeyev reached a career-high nine playoff goals through the opening two rounds, and Marner now leads the league with 18 points in the postseason.
Colorado knocked out the Minnesota Wild in the Second Round in their fourth all-time meeting in the postseason as the Avalanche won the series in five games. Colorado took Game 1 and Game 2 at Ball Arena, which featured a high-scoring 9-6 contest to open the round and a 5-2 victory that gave the Avalanche a 2-0 series lead. In Game 3, Minnesota handed Colorado its first loss of the postseason in a convincing 5-1 win, but the Avalanche rallied back with a 5-2 triumph in Game 4 to push the Wild to the brink. The series returned to Colorado for Game 5, where Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. In the remaining two periods, the Avalanche scored three unanswered goals, including two in the final five minutes of regulation, to tie the game 3-3 and send it into overtime. Brett Kulak was the overtime hero for the Avalanche to secure the series win and send the club to the Western Conference Final for the second time in four years. The Avalanche lead the NHL with 17 different goal scorers through the first two rounds of the postseason, while Colorado’s power play clicked at 38.5% in the series to pace all playoff teams. Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 13 points (7G, 6A), followed by Martin Necas (1G, 10A), Gabe Landeskog (3G, 5A), and Devon Toews (2G, 6A) and Cale Makar leads the Colorado blueline with four goals. Scott Wedgewood has backstopped the Avalanche in eight of their nine games, posting a 7-1 record to go with a .914 save percentage and 2.21 goals-against average.
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS PLAYOFF HISTORY
The Golden Knights have advanced to the Western Conference Final for the fifth time in nine seasons, the most by any club since 2018. The Golden Knights have now reached the postseason eight times in their first nine seasons. Vegas has qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for four consecutive seasons, including the organization’s first Stanley Cup title in 2023 when the Golden Knights defeated the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, and Florida Panthers to win the championship. The Golden Knights’ 14 series victories and 70 wins are the most in the NHL since 2018. Vegas has won at least one playoff series in six of its eight postseason runs. The Golden Knights have four players on their roster who have put up 70-or-more points in the postseason for the franchise in Mark Stone (79pts in 94 games), Shea Theodore (74 in 117 games), William Karlsson (74 in 112 games), and Reilly Smith (72pts in 105 games).
COLORADO AVALANCHE PLAYOFF HISTORY
The Avalanche are competing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the ninth consecutive year, tied with Tampa Bay for the NHL’s longest active streak. Colorado defeated Minnesota 4-1 in a best-of-seven series to advance to its eighth Western Conference Final and first since 2022. The Avalanche and Nordiques franchises have compiled an all-time playoff record of 195-157 (.554), with a .552 winning percentage. The Colorado roster features 11 players who have won a Stanley Cup, nine of whom played for Colorado’s 2022 championship team. The organization has etched its name into the Stanley Cup three times, all in the last 30 years (1996, 2001, 2022). The Avalanche are led by head coach Jared Bednar, who is in his 10th appearance as head coach in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, all with Colorado. Bednar guided the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in 2022, the organization’s first title in 21 years. Bednar owns a 505-297-76 combined record in 878 games between the regular season and postseason with Colorado, becoming the 10th coach in NHL history to win 500 combined games with a single franchise.
