The Vegas Golden Knights won their second straight game to close out their second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks with a 5-1 win in Game 6 Thursday night at Honda Center.
The Golden Knights took a 3-0 lead in the first period and added two more goals in the third courtesy of Pavel Dorofeyev, who now leads the NHL in playoff scoring with nine goals.
The Golden Knights won the best-of-seven series 4-2 and will advance to the Western Conference Final for the fifth time in nine seasons. Vegas will face the Colorado Avalanche for the second time after the two clubs went head-to-head in 2021. The Golden Knights won that series 4-2.
The Golden Knights were without defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was serving his one-game suspension for his hit on Ryan Poehling in Game 5. Mark Stone and Jeremy Lauzon remain out of the lineup.
But the Golden Knights took care of business. The second line led the way, but special teams played a critical role, with both units scoring in the first period to give Vegas an early 3-0 lead.
The Golden Knights opened the scoring just 62 seconds into regulation on an absolutely incredible all-around play. It started with a perfect stretch pass by William Karlsson, who sent Mitch Marner in on a breakaway. Marner scored one of the nicest goals in franchise history (and in general), dragging the puck back against the grain and going between the legs to tap it into the cage.
The Golden Knights took the first penalty of the night, but the Vegas power kill went to work. Marner made another outstanding play, skating across the zone on an odd-man rush and then finding Brett Howden for the backdoor one-timer.
It was Howden’s eighth goal of the playoffs and fifth in his last five road games. It also was his third shorthanded tally, which tied an NHL record for most shorties in a playoff run.
The Golden Knights’ power play got its second chance of the night with under three minutes to go in the opening frame, and Shea Theodore extended Vegas’ lead to three off the faceoff with a wrist shot from the point.
It was a dominant 20 minutes for the Golden Knights, who led 3-0 after one with a 9-4 edge in shots and 7-3 advantage in high-danger chances. The second line of Marner, Karlsson and Howden led 4-0 in Corsi and 2-0 in shots with a 100 percent expected goal share, per Natural Stat Trick.
The Ducks put up a fight in the second period, ultimately pulling within two thanks to a Mikael Granlund goal.
Third time was the charm for Anaheim’s power play, which cashed in at 12:46 after Nic Dowd was whistled for delay of game after firing the puck over the glass. A strong entry by Troy Terry led to a weak-side shot by Granlund, which beat a screened Carter Hart to get the Ducks on the board and get the crowd back into the game.
Marner had another excellent 20 minutes, hitting the post on a glorious chance. But Anaheim won the period 1-0 where it mattered, also leading 13-9 in shots and 25-18 in shot attempts.
The Ducks came out with a jump in their step to start the third period, but a steal along the boards led to Dorofeyev’s eighth goal of the playoffs. Ivan Barbashev made a great read on an Anaheim attempted clear along the boards, cutting off the play and then making a gentle backhand pass to Dorofeyev, who cut to the slot and beat Dostal.
The goal restored Vegas’ three-goal lead with 17:08 remaining in the third.
The Ducks had an odd-man rush just past the midway mark of the period, but Hart came up with a big glove stop on Granlund’s bid. He made another stop on Granlund a few minutes later, preventing Anaheim from generating any sort of momentum for a late rally.
Vegas put the final nail in the coffin when Dorofeyev recovered a puck behind the net, skated around to the goal line and beat Dostal short-side from a bad angle, which made it 5-1.
The Ducks pulled Dostal with just over five minutes remaining on the clock. It appeared that Karlsson scored on the empty net, but the goal was waived off since he knocked the puck down with a high stick.
Hart was called for delay of game with 2:13 remaining for taking his mask off to stop play after he lost a blade on his skate. It was a smart play considering he couldn’t move around the crease, but it gave the Vegas penalty kill one more assignment for the game.
However, Hart and the penalty kill shut down the Anaheim power play, and the Golden Knights closed out the impressive win.
In the biggest game of the season, the Golden Knights delivered. In every way.
It was a team-wide effort, and everyone contributed to a dominant showing.
That being said, there were some standout performances.
Marner was sensational for 60 minutes, and Vegas’ goal-scorers came through in the clutch. In the first period, Marner and Howden added their seventh and eighth goals of the playoffs, respectively, and Theodore potted his fourth. Dorofeyev’s snipe early in the third gave Vegas the breathing room it needed to close out the win, and his NHL-leading ninth of the postseason later in the third put this game fully out of reach.
Hart had another stellar game, stopping 31 of 32 shots for a .969 save percentage. He made a few key saves in the third period, and he finished with 3.11 goals saved above expected, per Money Puck.
This is the furthest both Marner and Hart have ever been in the postseason, though this is not new territory for most of the roster. In fact, this is the fifth time the Golden Knights have been in the third round in just eight postseason appearances.
But despite his playoff history, Marner looked confident and ready to go from the beginning, and he played like a true superstar all night.
He has been great throughout the playoffs, elevating his game more and more as this series has worn on, but he was on another level in Game 6. He took the moment and ran with it, putting Vegas ahead just 1:02 into the game.
For a road elimination game, it was as good a start as the Golden Knights could have dreamed of, and he led the way. He leads the NHL in scoring with 18 points in the playoffs.
Offensively, a series of big-game plays helped Vegas take and maintain control in Game 6.
The stretch pass from Karlsson was perfection, and the finish was one of the nicest goals you will ever see. Marner’s setup for Howden also was dazzling and especially timely. Theodore’s seeing-eye shot put an exclamation point on a tremendous start for the Golden Knights, and Dorofeyev’s two-goal third proved to be the dagger.
Once again, special teams played a pivotal role.
As it has all year, the penalty kill stepped up.
The Ducks found themselves on the man-advantage with a chance to even things up and reset the score when it was just 1-0. Instead, Marner and Howden doubled Vegas’ lead, delivering a crushing blow early in the contest. Though Anaheim later scored on the power play, the Vegas penalty kill went 4-for-5 with a power-kill goal.
The power play also scored a key goal to make it 3-0 in the first, with Theodore breaking through for his fourth of the playoffs.
The Golden Knights have quite a matchup ahead of them, with the formidable Avalanche firing on all cylinders. But Vegas has earned the chance to fight for the Western Conference banner thanks to 4-2 series wins against Utah and Anaheim.
Game 1 of the third-round series is scheduled for May 20 at Ball Arena.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Money Puck.
Photo courtesy of @GoldenKnights on X