The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 at home in the NHL North American Hockey League and went 4-0 in the West Finals. Photo: Reuters
Vegas after celebrating in Game 4 of the NHL Grand Final
The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 at home in the NHL North American Hockey League and went 4-0 in the West Finals. The Golden Knights won the grand final of the league for the third time in history, and they will face the Montreal Canadiens or the Carolina Hurricanes for the Stanley Cup, the latter leading 2:1.
Mark Stone scored a goal for the second consecutive game, for 1:0, this time he was successful in the fifth minute. Cole Smith scored the second goal 15 minutes into the final period to extend the lead. Carter Hart, meanwhile, made 20 saves for the Knights, who are the top seed in the Pacific Division.
“After an 82-game season, you’re going to struggle. I think that’s what helped us get to where we are right now. We never wavered, especially in this playoff game. We’ve been down, but we’ve always found a way to come back. Look, just like everyone else, we’re surprised to be sitting here with four straight wins. But the consistency and the will of our team since the start of the playoffs has been outstanding,” said Vegas captain Stone.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 24 shots for the Avalanche, who won the President’s Cup as the team with the best regular-season revenue, with two minutes and three seconds remaining on Gabriel Landeskog’s layup.
The fourth game of the series had a completely different outcome than the third. In this one, the Czech Tomaš Hertl scored the leading goal for Vegas after eight minutes of the last period, after which his team finally got back into the game after a three-goal deficit. It was Vegas’ first lead of the game after trailing 3-0 just 13 minutes, 15 seconds into the first period.
“Our team has the ability to come back, but we don’t want games like that. We have to play together from the beginning,” announced Vegas coach John Tortorella after the third win. After the fourth, he added: “I think our team is staying steady. In this playoff, we were behind in wins in one of the rounds. I think the players are just settling down and just playing.”
Colorado coach Jared Bednar said his team ran into a “sawmill” against Vegas. “I think they deserve recognition. The outcome is not the result of a bad game by our boys and the way we played, but the rivals are a well-oiled machine that is currently peaking at the right time,” Bednar believed.
