Avalanche-Knights Series Preview.

 1C Colorado vs Vegas 1P

We are back with another Playoff preview here on the ETEH Blog, so today we are looking at the the 1st of 2 Conference Final Matchups, as we're going to be looking at the Western Conference Final as the Avalanche who won the President's Trophy this year and were playing great, then swept the Kings in round 1 with ease and followed that up with a competitive 5 game series against the Wild in which they won 4-1 and advance to their 1st Conference Final since 2022, and they will be taking on the Vegas Golden Knights who thanks to a late regular season push were able to nab the Pacific Title yet again, they narrowly got by Utah in round 1 and in a series where at times they weren't the best team also took down the Ducks 4-2 in 6 games to advance to their 5th Conference Final attempt in 9 years of existence.

History of Rivalry Between teams in playoffs:

Now if you look at the history of these two teams playing in the playoffs, they have met once before and that was back in shortened year with the realigned divisions, as after getting by St.Louis in round 1 the Avalanche who coincidentally that year won the President's Trophy as well would take on a Vegas team fresh off a series win over Minnie, and in that 2nd round series in that first ever postseason meeting the Knighhts dropped the first two games in Colorado but after that a switch flipped and the Knights won 4 straight to take the series in 6 and advance to the WCF, so we shall see if the Knights remain undefeated in the postseason against the Av's or if Colorado beats Vegas in the postseason for the first time.

Season Series Record: 

Colorado 2-0-1 12-10+2

Vegas 1-1-1 10-12-2

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Each teams X-Factors: Wedgewood vs Marner 

Next we go over to the two teams X-Factors in my opinion for this series and the two X-Factors in my eyes are the Av's most likely starter for game 1 in Scott Wedgewood and Knights superstar winger Mitch Marner. Now I feel both of these players are going to be key to their teams success. Now for the Knights I feel Marner has to be the X-Factor for the Knights as Vegas does have some other big time players that will need to show up but I feel Marner might make or break their series, Marner has been kicking the narrative that he can't play in big games has he has 18 points in 12 games to lead the league in points in the postseason, so this is his first ever Conference Final appearance for Marner and if he plays like he did in the first 2 rounds then I think Vegas stands a good chance to win this series, meanwhile on the flip side for the Av's they have a few players who might be X-Factors in this series but the one I think who has to be a X-Factor is Wedgewood, now for the most part he has been a fantastic goalie all season long and also in the postseason but he was pulled in game 3 and benched in game 4 for the Av's so if he plays like he can when he is doing well I think the Av's stand a good chance to come out of this series, but those are my X-Factors for the 2 teams.

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Offense: now on the offensive side of the puck, it is a pretty interesting matchup between the Knights and the Av's as both teams have found some pretty good depth this postseason and can roll 4 lines and pretty much score from anywhere but if I have to give a edge it would be to Colorado as I think they stack up pretty well and don't get me wrong  Vegas has some elite forwards in Eichel, Stone, Marner etc but I just feel that Avalanche forward group is a slight bit better then Vegas.

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Defence: now defensively these teams both have big and bruising bluelines but are in fact quite injured right now with guys on both sides questionable for game 1, but I think going into this matchup the Av's have the advantage so long as Makar is healthy as I think so long as Makar is on the Av's blueline they outclass Vegas defence but if he isn't on the blueline I think Vegas defence is slightly better, so it depends on Makar but I will give the edge right now to Colorado.

Goaltending: and lastly in Net you have Hat for the Knights and Wedgewood for the Av's and I think it is pretty clear here that the advantage in net goes to Vegas and Hart, now no offense to Wedgewood who had a fantastic season and pretty good playoffs but since the postseason started Hart has been lights out for the Knights and I feel has been a better goalie then Wedgewood so I am giving the advantage in net to the Knights with Hart.

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Vegas PK vs Avalanche PP

Now in my opinion the biggest on ice matchup between these two teams in this series has to be the Knights Penalty Kill vs the Avalanche power play. Now this has been a story all season long for the Avalanche and that is their power play as even when they were cruising in the regular season their power play was garbage and they couldn't seem to get anything going and that has continued into the postseason where their power play has been terrible even if they had some success vs Minnesota but now they go up against arguablly the best PK team left in the Postseason as under Torts the Knights stifled a Mammoth power play that was red hot and took care of a Ducks power play in round 2 that picked apart the Oilers PK, so I feel whichever side is able to win this on ice battle stands a good chance to advance but this will definitely be a interesting matchup.

Predictions:

Now when it comes to my predictions for this WCF, i think it could go either way and I know a lot of people are saying the Av's will win in 5 or 6 as they won the President's Trophy, blew past the first two rounds and had a 20+ point advantage in the regular season, but in my eyes no one should underestimate this Knights team as they are getting hot at the right time, so maybe a bit of bias as I am a Knights fan but I am taking Vegas in a series that goes the distance, I could see this series swing either way and wouldn't be shocked if Colorado won but I am betting with the President's Trophy Curse and saying the Knights take down the Av's to advance back to the Cup Final for the first time since they won it in 23.