Golden Knights sweep Avalanche, advance to Stanley Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- Mark Stone scored for the second straight game, and the Vegas Golden Knights advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history with a 2-1 victory against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Cole Smith also scored, and Carter Hart made 20 saves for the Golden Knights, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.

“It was probably one of our better games from start to finish,” Smith said. “Other games in the series we’ve had little lulls where they’ve taken over, and tonight we stuck with it for pretty much the whole game. It was a really good game for us.”

Vegas will play either the Montreal Canadiens or Carolina Hurricanes in the Cup Final. The Hurricanes lead that best-of-7 series 2-1.

“Our ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup,” Stone said. “We still have four more wins that we want to accomplish. Happy with where we are, and we put ourselves in a spot to ultimately compete for it.”

Gabriel Landeskog scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves in his first start of the series for the Avalanche, who were the Presidents' Trophy winners.

“It's tough. You don't really know, everybody processes things differently,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said. “You work so hard to get to this point, it's obviously frustrating. But it's tough, you can't dwell on it in terms of the way we gave our effort. Like we touched on, I think sometimes at some points we were disconnected."

Said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar: “Losing sucks. Losing four straight is worse. The closer you get to accomplishing (lofty goals), the more losing can swipe it all away in an instant. It’s hard to deal with. I got a lot of respect for our guys and the season they had.”

Stone gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 4:42 of the first period. He gloved down a high flip from Brayden McNabb in the neutral zone, skated in on a breakaway, and used a backhand-to-forehand move to beat the left pad of Blackwood.

Stone had a goal and an assist in his return in Game 3, a 5-3 win on Sunday, after missing five games with a lower-body injury.

“I was able to get behind, but the lane wasn’t there,” Stone said. “I didn’t have to break stride, just had to catch it, put it down, and go in. Those are big goals at big times.”

Smith extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:15 of the third period, redirecting Dylan Coghlan's shot from the point through Blackwood’s five-hole.

“That’s how you move on in the playoffs. Those are very important pieces as you go through these series. I’m happy for Smith,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “Your stars are going to be stars, but to keep advancing and to get to the situation where you’re now playing in the fourth round, playing for the Cup, those other pieces have to come together.”

Landeskog cut it to 2-1 at 17:57 with Blackwood pulled for an extra attacker. He deflected Martin Necas’ shot from the point down off the ice and over the blocker of Hart.

“When you break them all down, they're all frustrating,” Landeskog said. “As I said, there were good parts of a lot of them, and especially when you look at Game 2 with a lead, obviously Game 3 with a three-goal lead, there's a lot of good in there, but at the end of the day, they're moving on and we're not. Whether that's in four games or seven games, it hurts just as much.”

NOTES: The Golden Knights previously made the Cup Final in their inaugural season in 2018, when they lost in five games to the Washington Capitals, and in 2023, when they defeated the Florida Panthers in five games. ... Tortorella is the third coach in NHL history to lead his team to the Cup Final after taking over in the final 10 games of the season. The others: Roger Neilson (Vancouver Canucks in 1982, lost 4-0 to the New York Islanders) and Larry Robinson (New Jersey Devils in 2000, won 4-2 against the Dallas Stars). ... Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin did not play because of a lower-body injury.