LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights hope to make a highly unlikely return to the Stanley Cup Final when they go for the sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.
Should they win, this would be the Golden Knights’ third trip to the Cup final in their nine seasons, and they would face Carolina or Montreal.
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It’s not quite the Cinderella story of the Golden Knights’ first team that made the Stanley Cup Final in 2018 before losing in five games to Washington, but Vegas’ journey to this point was far from expected.
The Golden Knights faced the possibility of not making the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history when management fired coach Bruce Cassidy, who led the club to the 2023 title, with eight games left in the regular season.
In came John Tortorella, who validated the controversial decision by leading Vegas to a 7-0-1 record to close the regular season and then series victories over Utah and Anaheim. Then the Golden Knights faced an Avalanche team that rolled through the regular season before going 8-1 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The odds favored the Avalanche to be the team to come out of the West, but history did not. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to claim the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.
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Colorado coach Jared Bednar searched for answers against the Golden Knights, even changing goalies on Tuesday, going with Mackenzie Blackwood over Scott Wedgewood. The Avalanche also dealt with injuries to their top two players this series — reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar and Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon.
The Golden Knights had their own injury issues, winning the first two games of the series without captain Mark Stone.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
