The Vegas Golden Knights are headed back to the Western Conference finals after delivering a dominant postseason statement Thursday night, rolling past the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 in Game 6 to clinch their second-round playoff series four games to two.
Led by another dazzling performance from Mitch Marner and a late scoring surge from Pavel Dorofeyev, Vegas overwhelmed Anaheim from the opening minute at Honda Center and never looked back.
Marner electrified the crowd just 62 seconds into the game with one of the postseason’s most spectacular goals. After taking a stretch pass from William Karlsson behind the Ducks’ defense, Marner fought through pressure from Jackson LaCombe, spun around in front of the net and flipped a between-the-legs shot past Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal for his seventh goal of the playoffs.
The early strike set the tone for a relentless first period by Vegas.
Eight minutes later, Marner helped create another goal when he found an open Brett Howden for a short-handed tally, Howden’s third short-handed goal of the postseason and the Golden Knights’ NHL-leading fourth short-handed score of the playoffs.
Vegas added to the onslaught moments later on the power play when Shea Theodore blasted a long shot through traffic and over Dostal’s shoulder just five seconds into the man advantage, silencing the Anaheim crowd and giving the Golden Knights a commanding 3-0 lead before the opening period was halfway complete.
Marner assisted on all three first-period goals, pushing his NHL-leading playoff points total to 18 as the veteran winger continued to drive Vegas’ postseason run.
Anaheim briefly showed life in the second period when Troy Terry set up Mikael Granlund for a power-play goal, cutting the deficit to 3-1. But the Ducks could never fully recover from another sluggish start, an issue that plagued the young club throughout the final stretch of the series.
Dorofeyev sealed the victory in the third period with two more goals. His first came after a costly giveaway from John Carlson early in the frame, and he added another with 6:28 remaining on a deceptive shot that fooled Dostal cleanly. Dorofeyev finished the series with five goals over the final four games and now has eight goals this postseason.
Veteran goaltender Carter Hart stopped 31 shots for Vegas, turning aside several quality Anaheim chances while the Golden Knights controlled the pace for most of the night.
The victory sends Vegas to the conference finals for the fifth time in the franchise’s remarkable nine-year existence and marks the club’s deepest playoff run since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2023.
The Golden Knights’ resurgence has coincided with the arrival of veteran coach John Tortorella, who replaced Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy on March 29. Since the coaching change, Vegas has gone 15-4-1, surging past Anaheim to win the Pacific Division before eliminating Utah and the Ducks in consecutive playoff rounds. Tortorella, however, declined to speak to reporters following the Game 6 victory.
Vegas now faces its toughest challenge yet against the Colorado Avalanche, who captured the Presidents’ Trophy and improved to 8-1 this postseason after dispatching Minnesota in five games.
For Anaheim, the defeat ends an encouraging breakthrough season under coach Joel Quenneville. The Ducks returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2018, but their young roster struggled to match Vegas’ experience and composure over the final four games of the series.
Anaheim also played Game 6 without injured penalty-killing forward Ryan Poehling, who remains sidelined indefinitely after suffering an injury from an illegal hit by suspended Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb in Game 5.
Despite the disappointing ending, the Ducks’ postseason return provided optimism for the franchise’s future. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, look every bit like a Stanley Cup contender once again.
