The Golden Knights are playing their best hockey right now

The Vegas Golden Knights sit one win away from making their way back to the Stanley Cup final, after a Game 3 win to go up 3-0 in the Western Conference final series against the Colorado Avalanche. 

While the Golden Knights have become accustomed to deep runs into the playoffs, they might just be playing their best hockey of 2025-26 right now, peaking well into the postseason instead of in the first round, when many teams tend to be the most healthy and at the peak of their performance. 

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Colorado Avalanche reporter Jesse Montano joined co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to break down the Golden Knights’ run so far and the series as a whole. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: For many teams, the beginning of the playoffs is when you want to peak, and Vegas just kind of found a way to get through two rounds. I’m watching this Vegas team now, and they look way better than they did against Anaheim and Utah. Have you felt like they’ve maybe thrown the Avalanche a pitch that the Avalanche weren’t expecting?

Jesse Montano: The level that the Vegas Golden Knights have unlocked here, not only do I not think the Avs saw this coming, I don’t think anybody saw this coming. I mean, they look more mature, more composed, more confident with the puck. They seem like every time they take a rush of ice, they’re expecting it to go in, they’re winning every 50/50 puck, they’re winning every board battle.

Maybe the most puzzling part of the fact is that it’s just been so uncharacteristic for what we have seen from the Avs… like in the inverse, it’s super uncharacteristic for what they saw from Vegas this year, but like coming into this series, it was the one part that you were the Avs to look at against a veteran team. 

When the Avs leaned on the Minnesota Wild, they crumbled a bit. When they leaned on LA, it became too much for the Kings, and they just couldn’t climb the hill. You knew that wasn’t going to happen with Vegas, but again, I just… I don’t think someone saw Vegas, just kind of taking it to the Avs at will.

You can catch the full series breakdown and the rest of Monday’s show here