Golden Knights advance to Western Conference finals with decisive victory over Ducks
The team’s strong form under new head coach John Tortorella continues as they reach the third round of the playoffs for the first time since their 2023 Stanley Cup triumph.
The Vegas Golden Knights have secured their place in the NHL Western Conference finals after defeating the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 in Game 6 on Thursday night. The victory concludes the second-round series and marks the Knights’ first appearance in the third round of the playoffs since winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. They will next face the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Presidents’ Trophy and defeated Minnesota in five games to advance.
Mitch Marner set the tone early, scoring 62 seconds after the opening faceoff and assisting on all three first-period goals. His performance raised his NHL-leading playoff point total to 18. Brett Howden added a short-handed goal in the first period, while Shea Theodore scored a power-play goal just five seconds into a man advantage. The Knights’ dominance in the opening frame silenced the Honda Center crowd and established a lead the Ducks could not overcome.
Pavel Dorofeyev extended the margin in the third period, scoring two goals to put the game out of reach. His first came following a giveaway by John Carlson, and his second involved a deceptive shot past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal. Dorofeyev’s efforts contributed to a strong finish for the Knights, who have shown significant improvement since John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy as head coach on March 29. The team is now 15-4-1 since the coaching change.
For the Ducks, the series ended their seven-year playoff drought, but their campaign concluded after four games under new head coach Joel Quenneville. Mikael Granlund scored a power-play goal for Anaheim, but the team struggled to match the veteran poise of the Golden Knights. Dostal stopped 16 shots, but the Ducks were unable to recover from their poor first-period performance in the final game.
The Golden Knights played without suspended defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was sidelined for an illegal hit on Ducks forward Ryan Poehling in Game 5. Poehling’s status remains indefinitely sidelined. Vegas, in their ninth season as an expansion franchise, had previously defeated Utah and Anaheim in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They now prepare for a challenging matchup against the Avalanche, who improved to 8-1 in the postseason.
