Golden Knights sweep Avalanche, reach Stanley Cup Final

The Vegas Golden Knights advanced to the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night, completing a four-game sweep of the Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 victory in Game 4. The win sends the franchise to the championship series for the third time in its history, having defeated the team that finished the regular season with the NHL’s best record.

Colorado, which won the Presidents’ Trophy with 121 points, was considered a favorite but was outplayed by a Vegas team that controlled the neutral zone and limited the Avalanche’s high-powered offense. Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart made 20 saves in the clinching game, with Mark Stone and Cole Smith providing the scoring.

The series sweep represents a stunning conclusion to Colorado’s season and has prompted questions about the team’s future. Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2022, the Avalanche have not returned to the final. Head coach Jared Bednar, the second-longest-tenured coach in the league, acknowledged the difficulty of the loss, crediting Vegas for its performance and saying his team had run into a “buzz saw.”

Conversely, Vegas’s journey followed a dramatic late-season coaching change. With eight games remaining in the regular...