The Vegas Golden Knights punched their ticket to the 2026 Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night.
The Knights swept away the Colorado Avalanche, who have former New York Islanders Brock Nelson and Devon Toews.
The Avalanche's elimination confirmed the Islanders traded the 29th overall pick to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Brayden Schenn, as part of the bigger trade itself.
With Vegas advancing to the final, it's time to look back at how the Islanders fared against the Western Conference Champions.
The Islanders played Vegas twice, per the usual NHL schedule of facing every team from the west twice.
The Islanders went 2-0-0 against the Knights, with one overtime win and one shootout victory.
The first meeting of the season came back on November 13, 2025. That night, the Islanders came into Vegas looking to a win a third-straight game to kick off a season-long seven-game road trip.
The first period went exceedingly well, with Emil Heineman and Matthew Schaefer scoring to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead after one period. Vegas scored the next three goals over the next two periods, putting the Islanders backs to the wall.
Mathew Barzal tied the game with under three minutes to go with Ilya Sorokin pulled, a thundering one-timer.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau then won it in overtime with a shorthanded goal, a massive win for the Islanders at the time:
The second meeting came just under a month later, on December 9 in UBS Arena.
The opposite of the first game occurred, with the Islanders falling behind 2-0 to start the game.
The Islanders fought back and scored three straight goals, with Bo Horvat, Marc Gatcomb, and Simon Holmstrom all tallying.
Vegas fought back, and tied the game at 3 early in the third period.
Then with under 10 minutes to play, Horvat scored his second of the game, giving the Islanders a late lead.
Ultimately, Pavel Dorofeyev tied the game at 4 with 12 seconds left in regulation.
Emil Heineman ultimately won the thrilling game in a shootout.