Avalanche swept from playoffs after dominant regular season - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar's decision to replace goaltender Scott Wedgewood with Mackenzie Blackwood for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals wasn't a bad idea, if only the backup netminder had received goal support.

The Vegas Golden Knights completed a 4-0 series sweep of the top-seeded Avalanche with a 2-1 win Tuesday night and will return to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in their nine years in the NHL.

The Avalanche now prepare for a long offseason. They had a dominant regular season, tying for the sixth-highest points by a Presidents' Trophy winner with 121, going 8-1 in the first two rounds of the postseason while averaging 4.1 goals, and falling flat in the conference final by averaging just 1.75 goals.

Though Blackwood dropped to 0-5-1 in six career appearances against the Golden Knights, he said he thought his performance was «good enough to probably get the win» after stopping 24 shots and holding the Knights to one goal until the third period.

«Obviously… sucks no matter how you do it,» said Blackwood, when asked if it is harder to accept being swept. «I think losing like that stings a little more. Yeah, that's going to be pretty frustrating. We are going to have a tough pill to swallow.»

The Avalanche, who were held to one goal for only the third time during the postseason and second time in this series, didn't get a shot on goal for more than 25 minutes over the second and third periods, as the Golden Knights were deliberate with their checking.

Offensive star and assistant captain Nathan MacKinnon, who led the Avalanche with 15 points in the playoffs, finished the series without a goal after netting at least one in six previous playoff games.

Martin Necas, who was second