Golden Knights, Avalanche battle for the Rockies, power in West

DENVER — The current alphas of the NHL’s Western Conference sized up each other in recent seasons. They stalked and circled and gave each other the stink eye while waiting to settle their score.

But this isn’t just about playoff supremacy between the Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche. This is a territorial invasion, a full-out assault more than four years in the making by Vegas owner Bill Foley.

“Being the team of the Rockies is going to be a lot of fun,” the graduate of West Point said in 2017 before his expansion club played a game.

War has been declared!

After the two heavyweights teased a potential matchup in the playoff bubble last season, they finally will battle in the best-of-seven West Division final starting Sunday at Ball Arena.

“I love our group,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said. “I’m proud of how we handled the first round, and obviously we’re excited about getting to work here and seeing how we stack up against Colorado.”

The Knights held summer promotional road trips through the Rocky Mountain region in each of their first three seasons.

Also, the club’s first TV contract with AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain and ROOT Sports included distribution in Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, prime territory for the Avalanche.

“Our vision is to make the Vegas Golden Knights ‘the team of the Rockies,’ ” Foley said in 2017 when the TV deal was announced.

The Knights and Avalanche nearly crossed paths in 2018 before the expansion team reached the Stanley Cup Final, but an upstart Colorado club finished as the second wild card and lost to Central Division champion Nashville in the first round.

The following season, the Avalanche were waiting in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs for the winner of the Knights-Sharks series. One major penalty, four power-play goals and an overtime heartbreaker later, it was San Jose that moved on to face Colorado.

The teams appeared to be on a collision course again in 2020 before the regular season was paused because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the round robin, the Knights defeated Colorado 4-3 in overtime to claim the top seed, and most observers were awaiting a showdown in the conference final.

But the Avalanche couldn’t get past Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals and the matchup had to wait until now.

The Knights tied Colorado during the regular season with 82 points, but the Avalanche won the tiebreaker for the Presidents’ Trophy and top overall seed.

Each club had four victories during the season series, with five of the games decided by one goal, including one that went into overtime. Colorado grinded out a 2-1 victory May 10 at T-Mobile Arena that proved to be the difference in home-ice advantage.

“We’re going to get each other here pretty fresh and, as I mentioned, we both had the same record,” left wing Max Pacioretty said. “They got us on the tiebreak, but everyone believes they’re the measuring stick team in the league and they’ve been sitting at home probably resting up. But no matter, we’ve got to make life difficult, especially on their star players.”

Pacioretty returned to the Knights’ lineup in Game 7 and scored the go-ahead goal in his first appearance since May 1.

The Knights enter the series nearly at full strength, with defenseman Brayden McNabb in NHL COVID protocol after a positive test result.

Colorado, led by center Nathan MacKinnon, is coming off a sweep of St. Louis in the first round and outscored the Blues 20-7 in the four games.

“Limiting that speed, limiting that skill, making it tough in all areas of the ice,” Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud said looking ahead to the series. “And I think focusing on our game, too, and what we do well. And like I said before, executing that game plan. Managing pucks, doing all the little things that make us a good team are going to be key. We’re looking forward to the next series.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.