LAS VEGAS – The Vegas Golden Knights have played their best hockey of the season in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but they face a much tougher task in the Western Conference final, which starts on Wednesday.The Anaheim Ducks and Utah Mammoth, Vegas’ first two playoff opponents, were young teams on the upswing, with blossoming talent playing in their first postseason as a group. The Colorado Avalanche have unquestionably been the best team in the NHL all season. They’re coming off a five-game throttling of the Minnesota Wild, after they made light work of the Los Angeles Kings in a first-round sweep.In Super Mario terms, the Mammoth were Goombas: minor obstacles that the Golden Knights stomped flat in Game 6 without much resistance. The Ducks presented more of a challenge, like a winged Koopa Troopa buzzing around. They forced Vegas to adjust before eventually being knocked off the screen.But the Avalanche are Bowser at the end of the castle. They are as relentless and frenetic as the fireballs and hammers the final boss tosses. Against Colorado, there’s no room to breathe, and almost no margin for error.There aren’t many weaknesses with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning squad that has cruised through the first two rounds, and its biggest strength is speed.The Golden Knights are well prepared to deal with that, though, having already defeated Utah and Anaheim, both of which relied on a quick transition attack. The Avalanche pose an even stiffer challenge, with speedsters Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas up front, and one of the fastest, most skilled blue lines feeding them outlet passes.“They’re a great team,” Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb said on Saturday. “They have lots of skill and lots of speed. It’s nothing we haven’t seen. We’ve played against them, and had some decent games against them this year, so it will be a good series.”In the regular season, Colorado beat Vegas 4-2 in October, then 6-5 in a shootout in December. But in the most recent meeting, on April 11, Vegas won 3-2 in overtime in Denver.“Our last time up there, I think we did a great job,” defenseman Kaedan Korczak said. “I think we limited lots of their chances off the rush. We changed a few things to stay on top of speed over the last two series, and I think it’s paid off well.”It’s not just that game, or the first two rounds of the playoffs. This core group of Golden Knights has found success for years by shutting down transition offenses. It was the biggest reason Vegas beat Colorado in the teams’ last postseason meeting, in 2021.Vegas’ personnel is built to defend well in space. It has a rock-solid blue line headlined by fantastic skaters such as Shea Theodore, Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin. Its high-end forwards – namely Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner and William Karlsson – are all exceptional defensively.