The Vegas Golden Knights showed their mettle by reaching the Western Conference finals yet again.
Now the Golden Knights face a very tall order to take the next step.
Thanks to a 5-1 road victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday to close out their Western Conference semifinal set in six games, Vegas next will try beating the regular-season champion Colorado Avalanche for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.
“They’ve been the best team in the league all year,” Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel said on TNT of the Avalanche in the aftermath of his team’s clinching win. “We know it’s going to be our toughest challenge yet.”
Vegas and Colorado open the best-of-seven series Wednesday in Denver.
The Golden Knights, who beat Colorado in the teams’ lone playoff matchup back in 2021, are underdogs. Despite claiming the Pacific Division, Vegas finished 26 points behind the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche.
Colorado has steamrolled its postseason opposition, having swept the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round before needing only five games to eliminate the Minnesota Wild.
That said, the Golden Knights also are rolling. They closed out the regular season on a 7-0-1 run after the coaching change that saw John Tortorella hired to replace Bruce Cassidy.
Vegas beat both the Utah Mammoth and the Ducks in six games to reach the third round of the playoffs for the fifth time in nine seasons since joining the NHL as an expansion team in 2017-18.
The Golden Knights elevated their game late in both series this postseason. They lost two of the first three to the Mammoth before claiming three in a row. Vegas was even with Anaheim after four games before taking the final two.
The series-clinching game against Anaheim was a perfect example of the Golden Knights’ late-series surge.
Mitch Marner and Shea Theodore both scored once and added an assist during a three-goal opening period. Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice on the night, and Brett Howden added a single tally.
Marner opened the scoring 62 seconds into the clash with a highlight-reel-worthy goal. He then set up Howden’s goal at the 8:30 mark, Howden’s third short-handed goal in this year’s playoffs, tying the NHL record for one season.
Marner racked up 11 points in the series (five goals, six assists).
“He was the best player in that series,” Eichel said. “He comes out here at the beginning of the first period, makes two incredible plays and all of a sudden we’re playing with the lead. … He’s on a pretty special run right now.”
Theodore added a power-play goal late in the opening frame.
“Tonight was kind of what happened too many times this year where we give up a couple quick ones early,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It’s a tough comeback against a team that knows how to play hockey.”
Mikael Granlund gave the Ducks some hope with a power-play goal midway through the second period, but Dorofeyev quashed any comeback hopes with an early third-period goal, and he rounded out the scoring at 13:32 of the final frame.
Dorofeyev leads the league with nine goals in this year’s playoffs, and he has five in the past three games.
Vegas goaltender Carter Hart made 31 saves while Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal stopped 16 shots.
The loss ends a breakout season for the Ducks. Anaheim made the playoffs for the first time in eight years and knocked out the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.
As much as losing hurts, the prevalent feeling among the Ducks was that better days lie ahead for the young and talented squad.
“It stings right now, but I think I speak for everyone, we’ll be hungry going into the summer,” Anaheim forward Troy Terry said. “It created, especially for me, a spark. It was fun to play in this. … We’re all excited to get to work and be better next year.”
–Field Level Media
