Mandatory Image Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Four teams remain in the Stanley Cup Playoffs which means we have made it to the conference finals. Beginning in the West, we have the Presidents’ Trophy Winning Colorado Avalanche, taking on the Vegas Golden Knights.

Colorado has only dropped one game all postseason, having swept the Kings, and defeating the Wild in five. It appeared like their second round series was going back to Minnesota as the Wild jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game 5, but the Avalanche pulled off an incredible comeback. Nathan MacKinnon tied the game with just over a minute to go in regulation, and Brett Kulak scored off a nice feed from Martin Necas four minutes into overtime to seal the game, and the series.

The Avs are on a mission, as they have been all season long, looking like the team to beat since back in October. They are deep, determined, and seemingly destined to win their second Stanley Cup in five seasons.

MacKinnon is leading the charge, with seven goals and 13 points through nine games. Necas has been exceptional as well, despite only one goal, he has 10 assists in nine games, his 11 points are second on the team. They are getting goals from everywhere, with an impressive 17 unique goalscorers in only nine games. The stars are scoring, and so is everyone else.

One star who will begin this series in the press box is Cale Makar, as an undisclosed injury will keep him out for at least Game 1. While they are capable of winning without him, the loss of their superstar defenceman will be felt, and they will need him back at some point this series.

Vegas closed out both their first round opponents in six games a piece. Unlike their series against Utah (where they faced a 2-1 series deficit), they were in control for most of the series against the Anaheim Ducks.

Mitch Marner has been the playoff MVP thus far, leading the league with 18 points. Known mostly for his playmaking abilities, he has been an effective goalscorer as well, with seven goals, already more than half of his total in nine seasons in Toronto (13 playoff goals as a Maple Leaf).

Jack Eichel is second in playoff points, not far behind Marner with 15 points to his name. The Golden Knights also have the two leading goalscorers in the postseason, Pavel Dorofeyev with nine, and Brett Howden with eight. Vegas is fully capable of keeping up with the Avalanche’s offensive attack, and while goals tend to be harder to find deeper into the playoffs, I expect lots of them between these two teams.

Trying to stop the goals from going in this series will be Carter Hart and Scott Wedgewood. Carter Hart has rediscovered his game after an up and down regular season after a long legal battle. Starting every game, he holds a .917 SV% and a 2.37 GAA. Wedgewood wasn’t as sharp against the Wild as he was against the Kings, allowing more goals in Game 1 alone than he did in the entire first round. He lost the net to Mackenzie Blackwood for a few games, but after Blackwood was pulled in Game 5, he stopped every shot he faced and reclaimed the starting role.

I cannot only mention the Makar injury as a factor in this series, as Vegas will be without their captain Mark Stone as well. While he is not the same electric player as his Team Canada teammate, his impact on the game cannot be understated, as a leader, two way player, and all around playoff performer.

This feels like it should have been a Western Conference Final at some point this past decade already, but this is the first time these two teams are meeting this deep into the playoffs. They have faced just once before, back in the second round of the 2021 playoffs where the Golden Knights won in six games. That series doesn’t have much correlation to this one, five years later, and both teams having won the Cup since then.

It should be a fun, close, and hardfought series. Between the best team all season, and one of the best teams in the last two months since they brought in John Tortorella.

Prediction: Avalanche in 7