How Golden Knights reached Stanley Cup Final

The Vegas Golden Knights are in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time since joining the NHL in 2017 after a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday to sweep the best-of-7 series.

Vegas will face either the Carolina Hurricanes or Montreal Canadiens in the Cup Final. Carolina has a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final entering Game 4 at Bell Centre on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).

As usual, the Golden Knights travelled a hard road to the brink of a championship.

There were legitimate questions about whether this was a team that should be harboring Stanley Cup aspirations. 

After all, they had taken up residence in the bottom half of the West bracket for most of the season, flirting with being left out more than keeping company with the elites. It wasn’t until the final two weeks of the regular season, after John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy as coach, that Vegas showed its true pedigree.

Tortorella was hired March 29 and delivered on his mandate to save the season. He inherited a team that had one regulation win in eight games (1-5-2) and was three points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card in the West.

In the final eight games of the regular season, Tortorella led the Golden Knights to a 7-0-1 record, allowing them to leapfrog he Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division.

Center Jack Eichel had 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) and captain Mark Stone had nine points (five goals, four assists), and each was plus-11 during that span. Goalie Carter Hart, signed as an in-season free agent, returned from injury April 2 and went 6-0-0, stopping 133 of 143 shots (.930 save percentage).

Vegas carried the momentum into the postseason, eliminating the Utah Mammoth and the Ducks in the first two rounds, each in six games, to reach the conference final for the fifth time. 

It swept Colorado, which won the Presidents’ Trophy and finished 26 points ahead of the Golden Knights. They held the high-flying Avalanche, who did not lose three straight games in regulation during the regular season, to seven goals in four games.

Here are some of the highlights for the Golden Knights on the road to the Stanley Cup Final:

BEST MOMENT: The Golden Knights fell behind 3-0 against the desperate Avalanche in Game 3 of the conference final at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Colorado had shown its Presidents’ Trophy pedigree and its intent to make this a series. But Vegas scored the next five goals and secured another comeback win against a team that was impossible to rally against during the regular season. It was a stunning statement that put the home crowd in a frenzy.

TURNING POINT: Look behind the bench. The Golden Knights were not a bad team during the regular season, but they weren’t close to their best when management made the coaching change. Tortorella, with a Stanley Cup championship on his resume from the Tampa Bay Lightning (2004), didn’t change much, but he gave Vegas reason to believe again, and reawakened the swagger that has been part and parcel of its identity from Day 1. 

BEST MOVES MADE: We’ve already discussed Tortorella’s arrival, which would be a candidate in this category, as would the trade for forward Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the offseason. But let’s not forget Hart, who was brought in after the season started, signing a two-year contract Oct. 24 because management understood that goaltending -- not scoring -- could be the team’s undoing. Hart, however, ended up being injured for nearly three months. He returned April 2, and Tortorella showed no hesitation to cast his lot with Hart, even with Cup-winning goalie Adin Hill available. Hart responded with a six-game run of victories to end the season and is 12-4 through the first three rounds of the playoffs.  

BEST MOVES NOT MADE: The Golden Knights didn’t do anything massive prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6, despite being unable to distance themselves from the competition in the Pacific. It’s in the Vegas DNA to go big or go home, but management showed restraint and limited itself to two depth moves, adding fourth-line forwards Nic Dowd and Cole Smith. Not only did those deals make them a better, deeper playoff team in the future, but it sent a message to the players that the belief a championship was within reach was as strong as ever.  

SIGNATURE WIN (REGULAR SEASON): On April 11, the Golden Knights clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 overtime victory against the Avalanche in Denver. But that wasn’t the reason for the feel-good atmosphere after this game; Hart had returned and won his first three games, but they came against the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks, each of whom were out of the playoff picture, and the Edmonton Oilers, who were trying to find their footing. The Avalanche were a different story, flying high and scoring goals at will. Vegas played a postseason-style game, and Hart showed the ability to stand tall against elite competition. Vegas never looked back from this win. 

SIGNATURE WIN (PLAYOFFS): Again, the Avalanche played the victim. This time, it was in Game 2 of the conference final. Yes, the victory in Game 1 was huge, but the come-from-behind win in Game 2 put doubt in Colorado’s hearts. The Avalanche, who were 5-0 when scoring first during the postseason, tried to nurse a one-goal lead at home. Eichel erased that hope with his goal at 9:15 of the third period, and Ivan Barbashev followed with the game-winning goal 2:07 later. He added an empty-net goal to send his team home up by two games and in complete control.

MVP: Not surprisingly, there are several candidates here, including Eichel, Pavel Dorofeyevand Hart. But in the end, it is Marner who gets the nod. The forward has dominated all facets of the game while leading the playoffs in scoring through the first three rounds. Not bad for a player who had never been past the second round during his nine seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marner has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 16 postseason games. He is plus-12, tied with Canadiens forward Jake Evans for the NHL postseason lead. He has seven points (two goals, five assists) on the power play and four points, all assists, on the penalty kill. Two of his goals were game-winners. That’s the resume of a Conn Smythe winner.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Shea Theodore did not have a good regular season by his lofty standards; his 39 points (10 goals, 29 assists) were his fewest since 2018-19. But Theodore has raised the bar exponentially in the postseason. He has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 16 games and is plus-8. He has three points on the power play and won a game in overtime. He is averaging 25:29 of ice time per game and is in contention to be considered the best defenseman in the tournament.