Avalanche vs – Colorado and Vegas meet in the 2026 Western Conference Final after two seasons defined by disappointment and comeback instincts. The Avalanche chase a surge powered by improved special teams and late-series belief, while the Golden Knights lean on John Tortore
When Jack Drury cut the deficit to one in Denver and then Nathan MacKinnon levelled the game with less than 90 seconds to go, it didn’t just feel like momentum for Colorado. It felt like time running out for the Minnesota Wild.
In the end. Brett Kulak finished the job—scoring the overtime winner 3:52 into the fourth frame as the Avalanche completed a regulation-time comeback and then closed the series in five. That kind of swing is exactly what has followed the Colorado team all the way to the Western Conference Final. where the Avalanche will host—or be hosted by—Vegas in a matchup that carries the weight of unfinished business.
Colorado enter with a 2-0-1 record in the series, while Vegas sits at 1-1-1. Both sides are looking to brush away fresh piles of frustration since their championship seasons, and neither club has been this deep this late into a postseason since it won it all three and four years ago, respectively.
Vegas arrives with a different kind of urgency. The Golden Knights are being led by coach John Tortorella, hired with eight games left in the season. The club also has a superstar in Mitch Marner, in his first year with Vegas and the first conference final of his 10-year career.
Colorado, meanwhile, has a renewed familiarity with its own playoff feel. At the trade deadline, the Avalanche re-acquired Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames. While this group includes several different players at key positions than the roster that won the 2022 Cup. Kadri and captain Gabriel Landeskog are both back together in a post-season lineup after Kadri spent several seasons in Calgary and Landeskog was sidelined for years by a knee injury.
For the Avalanche. this run carries a specific kind of target too: they are attempting to become the first Presidents’ Trophy winner from a full 82-game campaign to make the Stanley Cup Final since the Vancouver Canucks did it in 2011. Vegas isn’t chasing a streak as much as it’s chasing timing. The Golden Knights underperformed for much of the season and still weren’t a lock to make the playoffs when they replaced Bruce Cassidy with Tortorella at the end of March. and now they’re hoping their surge continues at the exact moment the stakes rise again.
The two long-standing Western Conference powers meet with a berth in the final on the line.
The Avalanche’s turning point came the hard way.
Colorado took a 3-1 series lead over the Minnesota Wild, bringing the contest to Denver for Game 5. Instead, the Avalanche fell behind 3-0 in the first period, and by that point a Game 6—and maybe even a Game 7—felt inevitable.
But the Avs changed course on the ice. They swapped goalie Scott Wedgewood in for starter Mackenzie Blackwood. Colorado struck in the second period to pull within two. then produced a final five minutes that turned the night into a highlight reel with survival on the line. Jack Drury cut the lead to one before MacKinnon found the equalizer with less than 90 seconds remaining.
Then Kulak scored the overtime winner 3:52 into the fourth frame.
That victory was inspiring. but Colorado’s real gain is measurable: by dispatching the Wild in five games instead of six or seven. the Avalanche made it through the first two rounds playing a total of nine contests. No one expected them to arrive in the West final via the deadly Central Division without grinding through a gruelling series first. Yet they made the semifinal with an 8-1 record after sweeping the L.A. Kings in Round 1 and making much shorter work of Minnesota than it seemed they would early in Game 5.
Vegas, for its part, has carried its own kind of resilience from the start.
In the Knights’ first-round series against the Utah Mammoth, Vegas looked close to slipping when it was down 3-1, with Utah holding a 4-3 lead on home ice halfway through the third period of Game 4. Then Brett Howden tied it by tipping home a puck right in front of goalie Karel Vejmelka.
Shea Theodore followed with the game-winner 52 seconds left in the first OT stanza.
What came next was the shift Vegas needed. That overtime winner was the first of consecutive 5-4 extra-time victories for the Golden Knights. They wrested control of the series back from Utah and closed it with three straight wins for a six-game triumph.
Then came Anaheim. Six games later, Vegas found itself in the final four.
Colorado will win if the power play keeps humming.
Even with all-world talent. the Avalanche were only 27th in the league during the regular season on the power play—sixth-worst overall. The trouble followed into the playoffs against the Kings. with Colorado failing to score on the power play in its first three games and finishing that series just 1-for-11 with the man advantage.
But the story changed against Minnesota. Colorado went 5-for-13 on the power play versus the Wild, scoring a power-play goal in every game of the series except the final one.
MacKinnon has been especially dangerous there, notching two goals and four points on the power play against the Wild. Kadri and Landeskog each added three power-play points apiece, as Colorado’s top unit caught fire.
If the special-teams unit that struggled for so long suddenly becomes a consistent strength, the Avalanche will be hard to stop.
Vegas will win if Tomas Hertl has awoken and Mark Stone returns.
Tomas Hertl endured a stretch of 29 straight games without a goal before finding the net late in Vegas’ Game 4 loss to Anaheim. He scored again next time out and closed Round 2 with four points in the final three contests. If Hertl can spark more offence deeper in the lineup, it would be a major boost to the Golden Knights.
Mark Stone’s status is another pivot. Stone left Game 3 versus Anaheim with a lower-body injury, and Vegas is a different team when its captain is in the lineup.
Stone is the type of player who impacts more than the scoreboard. Still, this season’s numbers explain why the offense changes with him in: he scored 73 points in 60 games this year, and he added seven more in the nine post-season outings he played.
Vegas will also look for the near-week off between series to help Stone get back into the lineup.
Kulak steadied the Avs, even when moments went sideways.
While the comeback against Minnesota put names like Drury and MacKinnon at the centre of attention. Brett Kulak has been a quieter through-line. He returned to the West final for a third straight year. averaging 21:29 of ice per game in the playoffs. more than every other Colorado skater except Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
Overall, Kulak—picked up from Pittsburgh after Edmonton discarded him in the ill-fated Tristan Jarry trade—has five points in nine post-season contests while going plus-3 for the Avalanche.
For Vegas, a rebuilt second line is already shaping the series it’s about to play.
Hello, Brett Howden.
Howden had 12 goals all season and already has eight in the playoffs—four in Round 1 and four more in Round 2, including a strike in the series-clinching Game 6 win over Anaheim.
He is part of a newly constructed second line that includes Mitch Marner and William Karlsson. Karlsson didn’t play for six months before returning for Game 1 of the series against Anaheim. He picked up three assists versus the Ducks. but his bigger role has been stabilizing at centre. freeing Marner to return to the flank where he’s played most of his NHL career.
Now, Karlsson between Marner and Howden is a dependably dangerous unit for Vegas.
This series schedule leaves little room for comfort. Game 1 is Vegas at Colorado on Wed. May 20 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, followed by Game 2 on Fri. May 22 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
Game 3 goes Colorado at Vegas on Sun. May 24 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, with Game 4 on Tues. May 26 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. If needed, Game 5 is Vegas at Colorado on Thurs. May 28 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, then Game 6 is Colorado at Vegas on Sat. May 30 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Game 7 would be Vegas at Colorado on Mon. June 1 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
Colorado Avalanche Vegas Golden Knights 2026 Western Conference Final Nathan MacKinnon Mitch Marner John Tortorella Nazem Kadri Gabriel Landeskog Scott Wedgewood Mackenzie Blackwood Brett Kulak Brett Howden Shea Theodore Karel Vejmelka Tomas Hertl Mark Stone William Karlsson Stanley Cup playoffs