NHL futures odds, predictions: Avalanche meet Golden Knights in 2026 Western Conference final

The Colorado Avalanche posted the best home record during the 2025-26 NHL season at 26-9-6 and have yet to be defeated at Ball Arena in the postseason, winning all five of their games there across the first two rounds of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Vegas Golden Knights will need to figure out a way to record at least one win in Denver if they are to make the third trip to the Stanley Cup Final in their nine-season history.

Colorado will face off against Vegas in the 2026 Western Conference final, which begins at Ball Arena on Wednesday. The Avalanche posted a pair of 2-1 wins at home, including one in overtime, against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of this year's playoffs before winning all three second-round meetings in their own building against the Minnesota Wild, with another going to OT.

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The Avalanche scored 18 of their 24 goals against the Wild at home, with 14 different players converting. Of their 17 goal scorers this postseason, only two have not tallied at Ball Arena. Nathan MacKinnon, who won the Maurice Richard Trophy this season with a career-high 53 goals, has netted three of his team-best seven playoff tallies in the Mile High City.

Vegas improved to 4-2 on the road in the playoffs and advanced to the conference final with its 5-1 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 of their second-round matchup. The Golden Knights scored at least five goals in each of their victories away from home, with Mitch Marner (six), Brett Howden (five) and Pavel Dorofeyev and defenseman Shea Theodore (three each) making large offensive contributions.

Through Saturday, 23 players have reached double digits in points this postseason, but only two are members of the Avalanche. MacKinnon, who enters the Western Conference final with a six-game goal-scoring streak, has registered 13 points while Martin Necas has notched 11.

Four Golden Knights have collected 10 or more points thus far, with Mitch Marner leading the league with 18. The 29-year-old right wing is tied with MacKinnon and two others for third in goals with seven, Howden is second with eight and Dorofeyev tops all NHL players with nine.

The Avalanche won two of their three regular-season meetings -- one in a shootout --- with the Golden Knights, with both victories coming on the road. Vegas recorded an overtime win in the lone contest at Colorado. Martin Necas scored three goals and set up three others while MacKinnon had a tally and three assists for the Avs, while Marner and Tomas Hertl each picked up a goal and three assists for the Golden Knights.

The teams are facing off in the postseason for just the second time. Vegas defeated Colorado in six games in the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs as William Karlsson amassed three goals and four assists, blue-liner Shea Theodore set up four tallies and Reilly Smith had a goal and three assists for the Golden Knights. Makar recorded a goal and six assists, MacKinnon netted two tallies and set up four others and captain Gabriel Landeskog racked up two goals and three assists for the Avs.

Two players that were active offensively in that series enter this showdown with different allegiances. Current Vegas left wing Brandon Saad had four goals and an assist for Colorado in 2021, while center Nicolas Roy - whom the Avalanche acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs this past March - set up a pair of scores for the Golden Knights.

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The NHL betting odds at the major sportsbooks see the Avalanche as huge favorites in the Western Conference final, with futures betting odds in the -250 to -275 range. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights are priced from +200 to +220. Learn how to read betting odds here.

Pick: Avalanche to advance

The Golden Knights certainly have responded to head coach John Tortorella, going 7-0-1 over their eight regular-season games after he replaced the fired Bruce Cassidy before defeating both the Utah Mammoth and Ducks in six games in the playoffs. But the Avalanche have carried their regular-season dominance into the postseason, and they'll also have revenge on their minds in this series.

Colorado went 8-1 over the first two rounds but faced tough tests. Each of the first two games of its first-round sweep against Los Angeles was a 2-1 decision, including one in overtime, and the Avs entered the third period of the last two contests with an identical lead.

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Game 1 against Minnesota was a wild one (no pun intended) as Colorado led 3-0 and allowed five of the next six goals before scoring five of the final six for a 9-6 victory. The clubs split the next two contests before the Avalanche snapped a tie midway through the third period of Game 4 and went on to win 5-2 and rallied from an early three-goal deficit in Game 5 by scoring twice in the final 3:33 of the third period before completing the comeback in overtime to eliminate the Wild.

MacKinnon has scored a goal in each of his last six outings after being held without one in Colorado's first three playoff games and Necas posted four multi-point performances while collecting a goal and eight assists against Minnesota following a first-round effort in which he mustered just a pair of assists. The rest of the Avs' lineup has contributed as well, as 19 of the 21 skaters that have appeared in a game this postseason have landed on the scoresheet.

The Golden Knights have plenty of firepower themselves, and Colorado will need goaltender Scott Wedgewood to be at his best. The 33-year-old was pulled from the Game 3 loss to Minnesota after yielding three goals on 12 shots and rode the bench in the following contest but replaced Mackenzie Blackwood (three goals allowed on 13 shots) in Game 5 after one period and turned aside all seven shots he faced for the win.

Carter Hart was solid in the crease for Vegas against Anaheim after having had several shaky performances versus Utah in the opening round. He'll be facing a much more potent and experience offensive squad this time around, and I'm not convinced he'll be able to withstand what Colorado will be bringing his way, so I'm expecting the Avs to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in five years.

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