The Vegas Golden Knights are not what we thought they were … two months ago, anyway.
It took a long time, a new coach and a new goaltender, but the Golden Knights look much more like the Stanley Cup contender the roster suggests on paper than they did for the vast majority of the 2025-26 regular season. Vegas went 7-0-1 to finish the regular season after the franchise fired its Cup-winning coach, Bruce Cassidy, and replaced him with John Tortorella.
The Golden Knights have won 15 of 20 games since Tortorella arrived, dispatching Utah and Anaheim in six games each to reach the Western Conference Final for the fifth time in their nine years of existence. Before Tortorella arrived, Vegas was in play as a potential opponent for the Colorado Avalanche in the first round as the second wild-card team in the West.
Instead, the Knights won the Pacific Division. And look very much like a formidable foe for the Avs. It will be the 2022 champs against the 2023 champs with a spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Final on the line.
Vegas is 15-4-1 in its past 20 games with 77 goals scored and 47 against. Colorado is 15-4-1 in its past 20 contests with 73 goals scored and 47 against.
Here are some potential keys for the series, which begins Wednesday night at Ball Arena.
Mitch Marner #93 of the Vegas Golden Knights scores a shootout goal against Scott Wedgewood #41 of the Colorado Avalanche during their game at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 27, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Avalanche defeated the Golden Knights 6-5 in a shootout. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
1. Let’s start with the obvious: Mitch Marner leads this tournament with 18 points. He had an incredible goal to start Game 6 against Anaheim. He’s one of the best two-way players in the NHL, and after years of playoff duds with Toronto, is a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy. The Avs better find a way to slow him down.
2. Vegas has scored 44 goals in 12 games. The Knights lead the playoffs in total goals, while the Avs lead in goals per game. Clearly, Colorado has been a superior defensive club compared to Utah and Anaheim this season, but the Golden Knights are quite deep up front and got deeper when William Karlsson returned last round after not playing since Halloween. Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl, Karlsson and Nic Dowd down the middle is a quartet that can absolutely go punch-for-punch with Colorado’s center depth, something Minnesota didn’t have a prayer of doing. The Avs will need a big series from Brock Nelson and Nazem Kadri.
3. While Vegas blitzed Utah and Anaheim with offense, it’s defense is at the core of its success. The Golden Knights were a superb defensive team all season, with substandard goaltending for much of it. Alex Pietrangelo isn’t back there, but the Vegas defense corps is still stout and adept at suppressing quality scoring chances. Marner, Eichel and Mark Stone have all been Selke Trophy candidates in recent years. The Avs will have to work harder to control play against Vegas than they did against Los Angeles or Minnesota.
4. Stone missed the final three games of the Anaheim series. If he’s ready for Game 1, Vegas is not far off Colorado’s talent and depth up front. If he’s not, the Avs have to do a better job taking advantage of that then the Ducks did. He’s had availability issues for years, but when Stone is in the lineup and close to 100%, he’s Vegas’ version of Valeri Nichushkin.
Left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) of the Colorado Avalanche reacts to scoring on goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (30) of the Minnesota Wild during the first period of Game 1 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
5. Speaking of injuries, the Avs had plenty of them at the end of the Minnesota series. Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski missed the final two games of the series. Jared Bednar said Cale Makar was dealing with “some stuff,” alluding to multiple ailments. He clearly had an issue with his right shoulder during Game 5. The Avs were able to fend off Minnesota for a couple games at less than full strength, but getting any or all of those guys right by Wednesday would be huge.
6. Carter Hart was the most controversial free agent signing in the NHL in quite some time. He was acquitted of sexual assault in the trial involving five players from Canada’s 2018 World Junior Championship team. The details from the trial were still very off-putting, and acquittal is not the same as innocence. He’s not likely to win any popularity contests, but Hart does have a .917 save percentage in 12 playoff games for Vegas. He only had an .891 in 18 regular-season games, though, and the Avs have more offensive firepower than Utah and Anaheim.
7. That said, where are the Avs at with their goaltending situation? Both Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood have had long stretches of success this season, but both have also been pulled in a playoff game in the past seven days. Blackwood played well in Game 4, but was yanked in Game 5, and Wedgewood finished out the series. Will Bednar stick with Wedgewood to start against Vegas?
8. This one probably should have been higher, but Vegas is *much* better on the penalty kill than Minnesota was. Beyond the 86.8% kill rate, the Golden Knights have four shorthanded goals in this postseason. They are a net minus-1 (four goals, five against) while on the PK through two rounds. Colorado yielded the most shorthanded goals in the regular season, and one against the Wild. The Avs’ power play is clicking at 25.0% in the playoffs after a 5-for-13 second round, but Vegas will be a true test of where they’re at with the extra man.
9. The most underrated player on the Vegas roster is probably Pavel Dorofeyev. Well, maybe not anymore. He leads the tournament with nine goals, including five in the past three games that Stone missed. He had 35 last season and 37 more this regular season. The Avs built a one-game penalty-killing plan around stopping him earlier this season, because he’s lethal on the power play. He had 20 PPGs in the regular season and has three in the playoffs.
10. So, maybe the biggest unknown as this series begins — is Vegas really this good, like the roster on paper suggests — or have the Golden Knights benefitted from the NHL’s wonky playoff bracket? No conference finalist has faced two teams with a combined fewer regular-season points in the shootout era. And there were points in both of those series where Vegas looked shaky and on the ropes. There is a chance that Colorado will make Vegas look like an inferior foe compared to Minnesota, but better health for Vegas and a hot goalie could also make this a much tougher test than the Wild ultimately offered.
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