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The Vegas Golden Knights punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in its short history on Tuesday night as they swept the Colorado Avalanche 4-0.
The Golden Knights accomplished the feat after making a bizarre move toward the end of the regular season. Vegas made the abrupt move of firing head coach Bruce Cassidy and replacing him with John Tortorella with just eight games left in the regular season.
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Vegas won seven of its last eight games of the season, only losing in a shootout to the Seattle Kraken. The surge helped the team solidify a spot in the playoffs. They later defeated the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks in six games each on their way to knocking off the Western Conference’s top seed, the Avalanche.
“It’s by far our best game,” Tortorella said after the Game 4 win. “(Checking is) something we’ve been concentrating on, and I think we’ve gotten better and better through the rounds. But tonight’s game was our best checking effort, and that’s a hell of a hockey team we played over there.”
Mark Stone and Cole Smith scored in the Golden Knights’ 2-1 win.
Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart made 20 saves and believed that the team’s defense was frustrating Colorado.
“I think once we scored that first goal, in the second and third period we just kind of locked it down and kept pressure on them,” Hart said. “We did a great job. We had some huge blocks tonight.”
Tortorella is now four wins away from picking up the second Stanley Cup title of his career. He guided the Tampa Bay Lightning to the championship in 2004 but hasn’t been back since.
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Vegas will meet the winner of the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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