LAS VEGAS — Mackenzie Blackwood did his best, but he could not save the Avalanche season.

Colorado saved its worst performance for Game 4, looking flat most of Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena on its way to a 2-1 loss to the Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals. Brilliant save after brilliant save by Blackwood wasn’t enough because the team in front of him was completely out of sorts.

With the win, Vegas completed the sweep and will now head to its third Stanley Cup Final in its ninth year of existence.

After cruising through two rounds of playoff hockey, the Avalanche hit a wall. One week ago they were on top of the world with an 8-1 playoff record, a franchise record for fewest games needed to reach a conference final. Less than a week after Game 1 of the Vegas series, their season is over.

“It’s empty; there’s no other way to describe it, really,” Gabriel Landeskog said. “Definitely still processing it, and it’ll take some time. I mean, listen, it’s like I said, all these games are frustrating in their own way, and just throughout the year, like I said, we’re finding different ways to win hockey game. In this series, it was the opposite. So, definitely a lot to learn from it.”

Blackwood was the best player on the Avalanche, but he didn’t get much help from the group in front of him. Like everyone else, he was stunned at how things went south so quickly.

“The first three games I watched (from the bench). I was kind of awe of what was happening. It didn’t feel real. Today just kind of piled on to that. Yeah, it sucks,” Blackwood said.

It started early, as the Golden Knights came out with far more jump than the Avalanche, dominating the scoring chances and scoring early to set the tone. With both Cale Makar and Devon Toews pinching in and no forward backing them up, Mark Stone snuck behind everyone on the Avalanche, deking past Blackwood to give the Golden Knights the lead.

For the majority of the game, it was all Vegas. Blackwood did his best to keep his team in it, robbing Pavel Dorofeyev twice on a second-period power play to keep the score within one. Colorado failed to push back, as scoring chances were 27-11, Vegas, through two periods.

While you’d expect the Avalanche to push like their season depended on it in the third period, they didn’t. Vegas continued its domination, with the Avalanche registering just one shot on goal in the first 12 minutes of the period. Vegas got that all-important second goal with a little over five minutes left in the game on a deflection in front, and that was all she wrote.

Gabriel Landeskog scored with Blackwood on the bench, but the Avalanche were not able to overcome 57 minutes of subpar hockey. And now, because of that, an all-time Avalanche season is over.

After an unacceptable ending to Game 3, forward Logan O’Connor sounded more angry about what was happening than others. That was still the case after Colorado’s season came to an end.

“Happened fast,” O’Connor said. “I think we let Games 2 and 3 slip away from us. Super uncharacteristic from our group to give up the leads like that, especially in consecutive games. Drifted away from the game plan, they made us pay. They were opportunistic off of mistakes, and like I mentioned, I just. ….. I don’t think a single guy in this locker room played to the standards that we expect.”

Injuries played a factor. Cale Makar was struggling to take off his gear in the locker room. Nathan MacKinnon declined to meet with media because he was with trainers, the team said. Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson and Sam Malinski never looked the same after returning from their injuries.

“There’s a lot of guys dealing with stuff, I’m sure it’s the same on every team,” coach Jared Bednar said. “You get to this point and there’s guys dealing with some things they have to fight through and other guys are relatively healthy and it’s just kind of part of the process when you’re going through the Stanley Cup playoffs.”

After a regular season that looked destined to end with a parade in Denver, the Avalanche must regroup. There will be changes, as there always is. Considering how this series went, one must wonder if a change will happen behind the bench.

“We’ll be back,” Landeskog said.

“I think the hunger is there,” O’Connor said. “Obviously, (we) got to reset. Really think about things this offseason, and everyone needs to come back better. Nothing’s guaranteed in this league, and it’s going to be another long road, but there’s tons of belief in this room and the talent and the people we have. But at the end of the day, we just, to a man, have to be far better.”

Golden Knights 2, Avalanche 1

What happened: Colorado saved its worst for last.

What went right: Blackwood was spectacular, making you wonder if he should have gotten into the series earlier than he did after Game 2. This game could have easily been more lopsided if not for his play. The Avalanche paid him to be their starting goaltender and they’ll need him to have a more consistent season next year.

What went wrong: The offense was nonexistent. Martin Necas, for the second straight game, did not register a shot on goal during 5-on-5 play. Brock Nelson had chances, including a breakaway that went right into Carter Hart’s glove, but he still has not scored a playoff goal against a goaltender in an Avalanche uniform. MacKinnon had no burst, while Makar was always looking to pass rather than shoot because of his injury issues. The only consistent scorer on the team was Gabriel Landeskog, who led them in the postseason with six goals.

Avalanche goal scorers: Landeskog (6)

Golden Knights goal scorers: Stone (5), Smith (3)

Between the pipes: Blackwood finished with 24 saves and a goals saved above expected of 1.26.

What’s next: A long summer with a lot of questions for the Avalanche.