Mark Stone and Cole Smith scored goals and Carter Hart made 20 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 to complete a four-game sweep of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Vegas, which won its sixth straight playoff game, advances to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in nine seasons. The Golden Knights will face the winner of the Eastern Conference finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens.
The Golden Knights lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Washington Capitals in five games in their inaugural season in 2018 before defeating the Florida Panthers in five games to win the 2023 title.
Gabriel Landeskog scored a 6-on-5 goal with 2:03 left for Colorado’s lone goal. The Avalanche, who finished the regular season with a league-best 121 points, became just the fifth Presidents’ Trophy-winning team to get swept in a playoff series.
No Presidents’ Trophy recipient has reached the Stanley Cup Final since the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks won the championship.
Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 24 saves. Blackwood, making his series debut, entered the contest with a 0-4-1 career record and a 3.63 goals-against average against Vegas but kept the Avalanche in the game with a number of blue-chip saves.
Nathan MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 regular-season goals and was questionable after taking a puck off his right knee in Game 3 on Sunday, led all Avalanche forwards with 22:10 time on ice and had two shots on goal.
Vegas, which scored five unanswered goals over the final two periods to pull out a 5-3 victory in Game 3 on Sunday, made it six consecutive goals when Stone scored at the 4:42 mark of the first period.
Brayden McNabb picked up the primary assist, lobbing a long stretch pass that Stone caught just before the blue line. Stone then went in on a breakaway, deking Blackwood and then wrapping a shot around his left leg for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Colorado had a good chance to tie it near the end of the period when Brock Nelson had a breakaway, but Hart made a glove save on his wrist shot.
Vegas took charge in a scoreless second period, outshooting the Avalanche 11-6, including a couple grade-A chances by Pavel Dorofeyev on a power play near the end of the period that Blackwood turned away. Colorado didn’t register a shot on goal over the final 14 minutes of the period.
Smith made it 2-0 with 5:45 to go in the third period when he deflected Dylan Coghlan’s shot through Blackwood’s pads for his third playoff goal and the game-winner.
Colorado pulled Blackwood for an extra attacker with 2:15 remaining, and Landeskog scored just 18 seconds later, deflecting a Martin Necas shot in the slot over Hart’s shoulder.
Colorado pulled Blackwood again shortly after the ensuing faceoff but managed just one shot the rest of the way, a slap shot by MacKinnon that Hart saved.
Raymond tied for second in scoring at worlds
Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond finished tied for second in tournament scoring during the round-robin portion of the world hockey championship in Switzerland.
Raymond had an assist and was plus-2 in Sweden’s 4-2 win over Slovakia on Tuesday.
He had five goals and seven assists for 11 points in seven games. He was tied with Canada’s Macklin Celebrini and Latvia’s Sandis Vilmanis, one point behind Switzerland’s Sven Andrighetto.
Sweden will face Switzerland in the quarterfinals. The other matchups will be Canada-United States, Finland-Czechia and Norway-Latvia.
Also Tuesday, Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored in overtime and added an assist to give Norway a 4-3 victory over Denmark.
In other action, Canton’s Paul Cotter scored a goal in Team USA’s 4-1 win over Austria and Grand Rapids forward Eduards Tralmaks had a goal and two assists in Latvia’s 8-1 win over Austria.
Canadiens eager to tie Eastern finals
The Montreal Canadiens find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
Sure, they will play their next game at home, but they will enter Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night having lost two in a row for the first time since March 14-15.
The Canadiens, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, also have lost three in a row at home and five of seven overall at the Bell Centre in the playoffs.
Unfortunately for Montreal, Carolina is 5-0 on the road and 10-1 overall.
“I expect us to show up,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said on Tuesday. “We’re behind, but we’re not dead.
“… It’s hard as you keep advancing. We knew it was going to be that. I think going through that, you really realize it’s hard to keep advancing. You have to grind.”
Getting more shots on goal would be beneficial, too.
Montreal followed up registering 12 shots on goal in a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 2 on Saturday with 13 in a setback by the same score in Game 3 on Monday. Even the Bell Centre faithful were imploring the home team to “shoot the puck” during overtime on Monday.
“I think we could have been better (Monday) night. I think our execution was a little bit off. We just couldn’t find it throughout the whole game, it seemed like,” defenseman Kaiden Guhle said, per the Montreal Gazette.
“(On Wednesday) we definitely have to be better. We have to be desperate. We don’t want to be down 3-1 going back there (for Game 5 on Friday). Definitely, it’s a huge one.”
Andrei Svechnikov scored 14:06 into the extra session on Monday as Carolina improved to 5-0 in overtime during this postseason. The Hurricanes are now two wins removed from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history.
“I think it’s the mentality of the team,” Svechnikov said of Carolina’s penchant of winning in overtime, per the Raleigh News and Observer. “We love tight games. Every time, we love that.”
Carolina also loves scoring first, as it has done in each game of this series and nine times in 11 games during these playoffs. Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere opened the scoring on Monday and Taylor Hall also tallied for his team-leading 13th point this postseason.
Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson scored a goal on Monday to boost his postseason point total to 15 (three goals, 12 assists). However, the 5-foot-9, 162-pound Hutson also has picked up a number of other things – such as a swollen lip and a bruised nose – while being targeted with physical play by the Hurricanes.
Carolina holds a decisive 127-65 advantage in hits thus far in the series.
“I would say it’s a staple of our game,” Gostisbehere said. “Our forwards do a great job of sending a heavy forecheck. It’s to whoever has the puck, to be honest. Obviously, (Montreal’s) skilled guys, you want to get a piece of them any chance you get, don’t let them get up the ice. When you’re doing that all game, it gets annoying. You’re not going to want to get up the ice when you’re getting hit all the time or mentally knowing that you’re going to get hit.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hockey roundup: Golden Knights sweep Avs; Raymond second in scoring at worlds
Reporting by Detroit News staff and wires / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
