The Vegas Golden Knights will play for the Stanley Cup for the third time in their history and first since 2023.
The Golden Knights entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division and defeated the Utah Mammoth in six games in the first round and the Anaheim Ducks in six games in the second round before sweeping the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final to advance to the Cup Final. They will play the winner of the Eastern Conference Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens.
Vegas has won the Cup once, defeating the Florida Panthers in five games in 2023. It lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in 2018, its only other appearance.
Here is a look at the Golden Knight' road to the Stanley Cup Final:
April 19: Game 1, Western Conference First Round, T-Mobile Arena: Golden Knights 4, Mammoth 2
In their first game of the playoffs, the Golden Knights trailed 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second. But captain Mark Stone tied the game with a power-play goal early in the third and Nic Dowd gave the Golden Knights the lead less than two minutes later. Ivan Barbashev added an empty-net goal and Carter Hart made 31 saves to give Vegas a 1-0 series lead.
April 21: Game 2, Western Conference First Round, T-Mobile Arena: Mammoth 3, Golden Knights 2
Stone gave Vegas a 1-0 lead in the first but MacKenzie Weegar tied it in later in the period for Utah and Dylan Guenther gave the Mammoth a 2-1 lead in the second. Barbashev tied the game late in the second but Logan Cooley's goal at 14:00 of the third was the difference, tying the series for the Mammoth.
April 24: Game 3, Western Conference First Round, Delta Center: Mammoth 4, Golden Knights 2
The Mammoth scored two goals in the first period, by Weegar and Guenther, and never looked back. Lawson Crouse scored twice in the second for a 4-0 lead. Jack Eichel's first of the playoffs made it 4-1 and Dowd made it 4-2 with 4:18 remaining but that's as close as the Golden Knights would get. It was the first and only time Vegas has trailed a playoff series so far.
April 27: Game 4, Western Conference First Round, Delta Center: Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 4, OT
After taking a 3-0 lead, Vegas had to battle back for an overtime win. Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden gave Vegas a 2-0 lead in the first and Cole Smith added to the lead in the second. But four straight goals by Utah (Nick Schmaltz, Ian Cole, Michael Carcone and Clayton Keller) led to Vegas trailing 4-3 in the third. Howden's second of the game tied it 4-4 at 10:25 before Shea Theodore scored 52 seconds into overtime to tie the series.
April 29: Game 5, Western Conference First Round, T-Mobile Arena: Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 4, 2OT
A back-and-forth game saw the teams tied 1-1 after the first and Vegas with a 3-2 lead after the second. But Guenther and Carcone gave Utah a 4-3 lead in the third. With 53 seconds left, Dorofeyev scored his third tying goal of the game to complete his hat trick and send the game to overtime. In the second overtime, Howden capitalized off of a turnover to score short-handed at 5:28 to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 series lead.
May 1: Game 6, Western Conference First Round, Delta Center: Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 1
With a chance to advance to the second round, Vegas took a 2-0 lead into the third before blowing the game open. Utah got within 2-1, but Colton Sissons, Mitch Marner and Cole Smith scored in the third to put the game away. Marner finished with two goals and an assist and Howden scored for the third straight game. Carter Hart made 22 saves for the Golden Knights, who closed out the series.
May 4: Game 1, Western Conference Second Round, T-Mobile Arena: Golden Knights 3, Ducks 1
Howden scored in the second period for a 1-0 Vegas lead, his fourth straight game with a goal. Mikael Granlund tied it for the Ducks in the third, but Barbashev responded 1:05 later to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead. Mitch Marner added an empty-net goal with six seconds left for a 3-1 lead and Hart made 33 saves for a 1-0 series lead.
May 6: Game 2, Western Conference Second Round, T-Mobile Arena: Ducks 3, Golden Knights 1
Neither team scored in the first, but the Ducks took a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes on a goal by rookie Beckett Sennecke. Leo Carlsson and Jansen Harkins added goals for Anaheim in the third for a 3-0 lead, before Stone's power-play goal with six seconds left spoiled the shutout as Vegas was unable to take a 2-0 series lead.
May 8: Game 3, Western Conference Second Round, Honda Center: Golden Knights 6, Ducks 2
The Golden Knights took advantage of their limited attempts in the first period, scoring three times on eight shots to take a 3-0 lead on goals by Theodore, Brayden McNabb (short-handed) and Marner (power play). Marner scored two more times in the second for a natural hat trick and a 5-0 lead. The Ducks scored twice in the third before Howden's empty-netter with 1:56 remaining put the game out of reach and gave Vegas the 2-1 series lead.
May 10: Game 4, Western Conference Second Round, Honda Center: Ducks 4, Golden Knights 3
Sennecke's power-play goal gave Anaheim a 1-0 first-period lead before Dorofeyev responded with a power-play goal of his own. Granlund gave the Ducks their lead back late in the first, and Howden tied it 2-2 early in the second. Alex Killorn and Ian Moore made it 4-2 Ducks, before Tomas Hertl's goal with 1:04 left got Vegas within one. However, they were unable to score the tying goal, and the series would be tied at 2-2.
May 12: Game 5, Western Conference Second Round, T-Mobile Arena: Golden Knights 3, Ducks 2, OT
Sennecke got the scoring started for the third time in four games, but Dorofeyev's power-play goal tied the game 1-1. Hertl gave Vegas a 2-1 lead before Olen Zellweger's late goal tied the game. At 4:10 of overtime, Dorofeyev scored at the side of the net on a pass from Eichel to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 win and 3-2 series lead.
May 14: Game 6, Western Conference Second Round, Honda Center: Golden Knights 5, Ducks 1
For the second time in the series, Vegas opened a 3-0 lead in the first period, with goals from Marner, Howden (short-handed) and Theodore (power play). Granlund made it 3-2 in the second but Dorofeyev scored twice in the third and Hart made 31 saves to send Vegas to the conference final for the first time since 2023.
May 20: Game 1, Western Conference Final, Ball Arena: Golden Knights 4, Avalanche 2
Facing the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche on the road, Vegas was unfazed, taking a 2-0 lead on goals from Dylan Coghlan and Dorofeyev (power play), his 10th of the playoffs. Howden made it 3-0 in the third and Vegas held off a late push by Colorado, which made it 3-2 on goals from Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog (power-play goal). Hart made 36 saves and Vegas took a 1-0 series lead.
May 22: Game 2, Western Conference Final, Ball Arena: Golden Knights 3, Avalanche 1
Colorado took its first lead of the series when Ross Colton scored at 16:59 of the first with Vegas unable to get anything going. However, in the third, Eichel tied the game 1-1 at 9:15 and Barbashev gave the Golden Knights a lead 2:07 later. Barbashev also scored an empty-net goal with 1:03 remaining to help Vegas take the first two games of the series on the road.
May 24: Game 3, Western Conference Final, T-Mobile Arena: Golden Knights 5, Avalanche 3
It didn't look good early, as Vegas trailed after allowing 16 shots on goal and three first-period goals to Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury (short-handed). In the second period, Stone got the comeback started 19 seconds in and William Karlsson made it 3-2 at 4:05 before Keegan Kolesar tied it at 12:46. Hertl scored the go-ahead goal at 8:21 of the third and Howden added an empty-net goal with 59 seconds left to stun the Avalanche and move within a win of the Stanley Cup Final.
May 26: Game 4, Western Conference Final, T-Mobile Arena: Golden Knights 2, Avalanche 1
Stone scored on a breakaway at 4:42 of the first period to give Vegas a 1-0 lead. Cole Smith made it 2-0 on a deflection with 5:45 remaining in the third period. With an extra attacker on, Landeskog scored at 17:57 to give Colorado life but Vegas held on to complete the sweep.
