Colorado Avalanche-Vegas Golden Knights: Round 3 Preview
The Western Conference Finals will start tonight and feature the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights. Colorado fell in 7 games to the Dallas Stars in Round 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, while the Golden Knights fell in Round 2 to the Edmonton Oilers in 5 games.
The Avalanche’s Setup
The Avalanche made easy work of the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1, defeating them in 4 games, before beating the Minnesota Wild in 5. Their last game was on May 13, giving them a week of rest.
Goalie Scott Wedgewood has been incredible for his team and has only missed one game, Game 3 against the Wild. He’s allowed 16 goals in 8 games and will be a key player against the Golden Knights. Some of his saves have been spectacular.
Backup Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood is a high-quality player who has played in 3 games this postseason, allowing a solid 6 goals. The Avalanche are lucky to have two strong goalies on hand.
On the offensive side, Colorado is a dangerous, high-scoring team. Despite a slow start to his Round 1 effort, Nathan MacKinnon has been playing up to his regular-season level and has 13 points to lead the team, with 7 goals and 6 assists.
Martin Necas is a center and has been brilliant on defense, with 1 goal and 10 assists. Seven other players have 5 or more points in a balanced team effort, with Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Teows sitting on 8 apiece.
Colorado plays fast and aggressively, and cannot be given the chance to get the puck, as they can turn the play around and score right away. They are great at scoring on power plays and killing penalties. That is a bad combination for any team up against them.
However, there could be a slight hiccup for the Avalanche. Top Defenseman Cale Makar, who’s been a key element for his team, is not able to play in Game 1 vs. the Golden Knights and is listed as day-to-day. The Avalanche do not necessarily need him to win, but losing him is a big blow, and they will hope to have him back soon.
The Golden Knights’ Setup
It took the Golden Knights a few more games to get to this point, but in no way are they a worse team than the Avalanche, so they should never be counted out. It took 6 games to beat the Utah Mammoth in Round 1, and 6 to beat the Anaheim Ducks in Round 2.
Their last game was a 5-1 win against the Ducks on May 14, so they’ve also had a good amount of rest. Goalie Carter Hart has been strong, but will certainly have to raise his game against the Avalanche’s flurry of offense. He’s allowed 30 goals in 12 games, which shows some weakness on his end and in his team’s defense. No other goalie has played for the Golden Knights this postseason.
Offensively, the Golden Knights could give the Avalanche trouble. Mitch Marner leads the way with 18 points (7 goals and 11 assists), Jack Eichel has been fantastic defensively with 14 assists, Pavel Dorofayev has 9 goals and 2 assists, and Brett Howden’s 10 points include 8 goals. Six other players have 5+ points so far in the playoffs.
The Golden Knights lead the NHL in high-danger goals in the playoffs with 27, and Hart has also been good at saving high-danger goals with a SV% of 0.877. The Golden Knights also tend to take many high-danger shots with 100 so far in the postseason, so they will need to shine there and force Wedgewood and Blackwood, as well as the rest of the Colorado defense, into uncomfortable situations.
Conference Final Preview
If the Golden Knights can tighten up defensively and keep up with the Avalanche’s fast pace, as well as continue their high-danger goal trend, they could absolutely change the game and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
