The Presidents’ Trophy curse claimed another victim but can we stop pretending the Avalanche losing MacKinnon and Makar in the same series was a “sweep” in any meaningful sense

Colorado scored seven goals in four games and got swept out. That’s the headline. But MacKinnon didn’t score once across the series and Makar was clearly playing through something the entire time. The best player in the league by goals this season and the reigning Norris winner both compromised, and Vegas suffocated them with Carter Hart going near-shutout in Game 4.

That’s not a dominant sweep. That’s an opportunistic one. Vegas were 30-1 to sweep before the series started. They won because Tortorella’s checking system caught lightning in a bottle against a half-healthy Colorado roster.

None of that takes away from what Vegas did — they executed their game plan in every single game and deserved to advance. But the “Golden Knights are unstoppable” narrative heading into the Final needs some context. Carolina or Montreal are going to come in healthy and this could look very different.

The Presidents’ Trophy curse is now 13 straight seasons without a Cup. At some point that stops being a curse and starts being a structural problem with how the NHL regular season maps onto playoff hockey.