The two division champions in the Western Conference will meet for a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.

With their victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, the Golden Knights booked their ticket to the Western Conference Final, where they will face the Colorado Avalanche. Vegas won the Pacific Division, while the Avalanche took first place in the Central Division. Colorado and Vegas are the two most recent Stanley Cup champions to come out of the Western Conference.

This will be the second time these two franchises have met in the postseason. They previously met in the second round back in 2021, when the Avalanche got out to a 2-0 lead at home before losing four straight and falling to the Golden Knights in six games. The following year, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.

Game 1 between the two teams will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at 6 p.m.

Colorado won two of the three games between the teams this season. On Halloween, they went into Vegas and beat the Golden Knights by a score of 4-2. Their shootout victory on Dec. 27 might have been one of the more dramatic wins of the season for Colorado. Down 4-2 going into the third, the Avalanche scored two quick goals in the third to tie it up before allowing Vegas to take back the lead. Artturi Lehkonen scored with the goalie pulled to tie the game up at 5 before the Avalanche won in the shootout, their first shootout victory of the season.

Vegas won the final matchup at Ball Arena by a score of 3-2 in a game that ultimately didn’t mean a whole lot to Colorado at that point in the season. That was the only game the Avalanche played against Vegas with John Tortorella behind the Golden Knights bench. He was hired on March 29 when the team fired Bruce Cassidy, who led the franchise to a Stanley Cup back in 2023.

Injuries will be something to keep an eye on heading into the start of this series. The Avalanche played the final two games of their series against Minnesota without Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski, who were dealing with upper-body injuries. Cale Makar has also been dealing with an issue of his own and could benefit from the longer break. Vegas played the final three games of their series with Anaheim without their captain Mark Stone, who is dealing with a lower-body injury.