The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in Game 4 to complete a sweep and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history.
That victory — the clincher on Tuesday night — is the immediate reason fans and searchers are looking up the Stanley Cup Finals: Vegas has wrapped the Western Conference and is standing by to meet the Eastern Conference winner, with the exact Final opponent and timing still to be decided.
The scoreline hardly told the full story of a tight, low-event game. Mark Stone scored after returning from injury, and Carter Hart denied Brock Nelson on a mini-breakaway in the first period, plays that helped tip the balance. Vegas allowed just 21 shots on goal in the series-clinching game and kept Colorado to seven total goals across the Western Conference Final, proof of a constricting defensive effort that finished off the NHL’s best regular-season team.
Kelly McCrimmon, the Golden Knights’ president and general manager, spoke the day after the series ended and framed the run bluntly: “We are committed to winning and treating our people well. I don’t think we need to apologize or worry about what people on the outside think about.” He added, “I think we largely ignore it, to be honest,” saying the organization does not plan to spend time changing critics’ minds and that they “were wrong about” not offering postgame media availability following the Ducks series the previous round.
McCrimmon’s remarks came with a backdrop of decisions that have drawn scrutiny. The club moved on from Bruce Cassidy on March 29 and replaced him with John Tortorella with eight regular-season games remaining; under Tortorella, one source records Vegas went 7-1 in those final eight games and entered this post-season stretch on a six-game winning run, a sequence the team will point to as validation of its direction. Opponents have cast the Golden Knights’ recent choices as controversial, but McCrimmon said the organization will not be apologizing for how it has been run while it piles up results.
The sweep of Colorado also adds to the narrative of a fast-building franchise: Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2023 and reached the Final in its first season after the 2017 expansion draft, making this its third trip to the championship round in nine seasons. Still, the next chapter — who they play for the Cup — remains open. Vegas will face either the Montreal Canadiens or the Carolina Hurricanes, with the Eastern Conference Final scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET when Carolina visits Montreal in Game 4.
That series could conclude as soon as Friday with Game 5 in Carolina, stretch to Game 6 on Sunday if necessary, or require a Game 7 on Tuesday, June 2. Until one side wins that series, the Golden Knights’ opponent and the full Stanley Cup Finals schedule cannot be finalized; fans tracking timing can consult the Filmogaz Stanley Cup Finals Schedule to see what Game 4 of the ECF means for timing.
What happens next is straightforward and consequential: Vegas will wait — briefly — while Carolina and Montreal finish their business, then turn to a final for the Cup. The unresolved question is not if the Golden Knights will be ready, but which of those two teams will get the chance to try to stop them and when the first puck drops.
