Avalanche, Hurricanes look to keep rolling in conference finals

Can the Colorado Avalanche or the Carolina Hurricanes be stopped or are they destined to meet in the Stanley Cup Final?

The top two teams in the regular season are 16-1 combined in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That’s the best record for two teams entering the conference finals in NHL history.

But now each powerhouse faces a compelling challenge -- the Avalanche against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final, the Hurricanes against the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Avalanche finished first in the NHL in the regular season and went 8-1 in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-1 in the second. They’re in the conference final for the first time since 2022, when they went on to win the Stanley Cup.

They have two of the best players in the world in center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar, and they’re deep. Seventeen players have scored a goal in the playoffs even though they have played only nine games.

The Golden Knights present a big test, starting in Game 1 at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC). They won the Cup in 2023, and they’ve won more games (70) and more series (14) in the playoffs than any other team since entering the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18. That includes a six-game win against the Avalanche in the second round in 2021.

Vegas has gone 15-4-1 since John Tortorella took over for Bruce Cassidy as coach March 29 -- finishing the regular season 7-0-1, then defeating the Utah Mammoth in six games in the first round and the Anaheim Ducks in six in the second. This is the Golden Knights’ fifth trip to the semifinal round in nine seasons.

Forward Mitch Marner leads the playoffs with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 12 games. Forward Pavel Dorofeyev leads the playoffs with nine goals, and forward Brett Howden is second with eight.

“I think it’ll be a good matchup,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “They’re a good team. I think they’ve played obviously really well since ‘Torts’ came in, and they’ve got a lot of depth.”

They’ve got their swagger back.

“I think we feel really good about ourselves,” Tortorella said. “I think it’s very important in playoffs. It’s not just the X’s and O’s and all. It’s how you feel and the confidence level you have. I think we’re in a good spot.”

The Hurricanes finished first in the East in the regular season and went 8-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, sweeping the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers. They’re in the conference final for the third time in four years and the fourth time since 2019, Rod Brind’Amour’s first season as coach. This is their fifth trip since 2009.

Forward Taylor Hall leads Carolina with 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in eight games, giving him the same points per game (1.50) as Marner. Forward Jackson Blake is right behind with 11 points (four goals, seven assists), and forward Logan Stankoven has seven goals.

This seems like an important opportunity to seize to make the Cup Final for the first time since 2006, when the Hurricanes won the Cup with Brind’Amour as their captain. The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers -- who swept them in the conference final in 2023 and defeated them in five games in the conference final last year -- didn’t make the playoffs mainly due to injuries. They’re resting and rehabbing, hoping to make another run next season.

Carolina will have been waiting to play for almost 12 days by the time the puck drops for Game 1 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). Rust could be an issue, but rest is an advantage.

“Playoff hockey is hard,” Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said. “It’s hard on your body, and to play the minimum that we could is definitely a benefit for us. We’ve had, it feels like, a month to get healthy, and it felt like we came out of the Philly series actually pretty good, so I think everybody is just ready to go and champing at the bit to get going here.”

There is something special about the Canadiens, a team with an old, storied history and a young, exciting roster. They haven’t lost consecutive games in the playoffs, always “bouncing forward,” as coach Martin St. Louis likes to say, in seven-game wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres. They’re back in the third round for the first time since 2021, when they made the Cup Final.

Defenseman Lane Hutson leads Montreal with 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 14 games, followed by captain Nick Suzuki, who has 13 points (four goals, nine assists). Forward Alex Newhook has seven goals, including two Game 7 winners, the last one in overtime in a 3-2 win at Buffalo on Monday.

“What we’re going through right now, you can’t buy that,” St. Louis said. “It’s amazing.”

And it’s only the halfway point of the playoffs.

Four teams left. Two rounds to go.

NHL.com senior writers Amalie Benjamin and Tom Gulitti contributed