Avalanche

LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights are headed back to the Stanley Cup Final after shutting down the Colorado Avalanche in dominant fashion, completing a four-game sweep with a 2-1 victory Tuesday night in the Western Conference finals. Despite entering the series as the NHL’s top overall seed after a 121-point regular season, Colorado struggled to generate offense against Vegas’ disciplined defensive structure. The Avalanche averaged just 1.75 goals per game in the series a

The Colorado Avalanche received a major boost ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, as star center Nathan MacKinnon is expected to suit up Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights despite dealing with a knee injury suffered in Game 3. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar confirmed Tuesday afternoon that MacKinnon will play as Colorado looks to avoid a series sweep on home ice. MacKinnon was injured during the second period of Sunday’s 4-3 loss after blocking a

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche looked finished midway through Game 5 after falling behind by three goals against the Minnesota Wild. Instead, they delivered one of the franchise’s most dramatic playoff comebacks in recent memory. Defenseman Brett Kulak scored 3:52 into overtime Wednesday night, lifting Colorado to a 4-3 victory at Ball Arena and sending the Avalanche to the Western Conference final for the eighth time since the franchise moved to Denver. Kulak buried a feed