Mark Stone waved owner Bill Foley away from the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after the 2-1 Game 4 win completed the four-game sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche.
The Four-Game Sweep
The Golden Knights scored first when captain Mark Stone converted a breakaway 4 minutes into Game 4, beating Mackenzie Blackwood with a backhand-forehand deke. The lead held until Cole Smith redirected a puck through the five-hole with under 8 minutes remaining in the third period. Gabriel Landeskog pulled one back with 2 minutes left, but Vegas closed out the 2-1 victory without allowing an equalizer.
Colorado entered the series with 26 more regular-season points than Vegas yet lost every game. Nathan MacKinnon returned from injury and Cale Makar played, yet the Avalanche managed only one goal in the finale. Carter Hart made the necessary stops in net for the Knights.
The result placed Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in its nine-year history. The earliest possible start against the Eastern Conference champion is Friday, May 29, after Carolina leads Montreal 2-1 in their series.
The Unchanged Superstition
Stone gathered teammates for a photo with the trophy and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, then explicitly directed Foley not to touch it. The same hands-off instruction occurred in 2023. Florida followed the identical protocol after its last two Eastern Conference titles and won the Cup both times.
Edmonton touched the Campbell Bowl in 2025 after skipping it in 2024 and lost the final in both seasons. Tampa Bay touched its conference trophy in 2020 and 2021 before winning the Cup each year, while Colorado touched the Campbell Bowl in 2022 and also claimed the title.
The pattern shows no universal rule, yet the Knights have now aligned with the subset of recent champions who left the hardware untouched. Stone’s direct instruction to Foley supplied the clearest on-ice signal that the 2023 precedent would be followed exactly.
Road to the Final
The sweep eliminated the top regular-season team after Vegas had trailed by 26 points in the standings. The Knights advanced with the same roster core that reached the 2023 final, where they defeated Florida in five games without having touched the Campbell Bowl.
Carolina or Montreal will provide the opponent once their series concludes no earlier than May 29. Vegas has already secured home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven final regardless of the matchup.
The decision to photograph the trophy without contact preserves the exact ritual that preceded the 2023 championship. History records that the Knights raised the Stanley Cup 17 days after the 2023 conference final.
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Par Mike Jonderson
Mike Jonderson is a passionate hockey analyst and expert in advanced NHL statistics. A former college player and mathematics graduate, he combines his understanding of the game with technical expertise to develop innovative predictive models and contribute to the evolution of modern hockey analytics.