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The Vegas Golden Knights (4-2) scored early and often, including two from Pavel Dorofeyev, as they defeated the Anaheim Ducks (2-4) 5-1 in Game 6 to reach the Western Conference Finals for the fifth time in their nine-year history. Consider that only half of the 32 NHL teams, all of which have been in existence much longer than the Golden Knights, have reached the conference finals five or more times. Additionally, the Golden Knights have now won 14 series, the most in the NHL since the franchise entered the league after moving to Tampa Bay. Despite leading the series 3-2, they improved to 9-1 all-time.

Just 1:02 into the game, William Carlson lofted Mitch Marner on a breakaway and Marner scored what was perhaps his most spectacular goal of the postseason. Marner stopped in front of Anaheim netminder Lucas Dostal, turned to his backhand, slid the puck tight behind Dostal, then pulled the puck through his legs and hit it to his forehand while he still had his back to Dostal. It was Marner’s seventh goal of the postseason and his league-leading 17th postseason point. Marner also got involved in the Golden Knights’ second goal a little more than seven minutes later.

With Anaheim on the power play, the Golden Knights were fouled out of their own zone. Despite trailing by a man, the Golden Knights skated into Anaheim territory on a three-on-two break. Marner skated harmlessly into the zone, while Brett Howden took a quick drive toward the net and past the Anaheim defense. Howden then immediately established himself in the bottom of the right circle and took a cross-ice, diagonal pass from Marner and one-timed it past Dostal on a down-and-out. This was, at the time, a league-leading eighth post-season goal for Howden, which is notable as he had scored only 12 goals in 58 regular season games. The goal was also a notable fourth short-handed goal of the postseason for the Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights’ other special teams unit also got in on the action with 2:41 left in the first period. With Anaheim forward Alex Killorn down for hooking, the Golden Knights’ power play came in handy and scored with just five seconds left on the man-advantage. In a must-see shot from center point, Shea Theodore (4) fired a puck through heavy traffic that went past Dostal’s right ear and put the Golden Knights ahead with a trio of goals.

The first period of the Golden Knights was as impressive as the Bellagio Conservatory. By the end of the period, the Golden Knights had scored at even strength, short-handed and on the power play. The three goals came on just nine shots, while holding Anaheim to just four. The Golden Knights also won 61.1 percent of faceoffs in the first frame.

Anaheim was finally able to solve Carter Hart in the second, but would need a power play to do so. After Golden Knights forward Nick Dowd kicked the puck out of play and was whistled for delay of game, Anaheim went to work on its third power play opportunity of the game. Mikael Granlund (5) delivered a brilliant cross-ice centering pass to Troy Terry that knocked down Hart with the side of his glove at 12:46 of the second minute to pull Anaheim to within two, 3-1. Despite allowing shorthanded goals, the Anaheim power play improved significantly as the series progressed. With the power play tally, the Ducks improved to 4-for-9 on the power play in the last three games after going 0-for-11 in the first three games. This would be the only goal scored in the second and the score remained 3–1 at the second intermission.

Any hopes Anaheim had of a comeback were ended by the Golden Knights early in the third. While Anaheim outshot Vegas 15–3 in the frame, it was the Golden Knights who scored twice. Less than three minutes into the third, Ivan Barbashev caught Anaheim defenseman John Carlson’s failed clearing attempt, then delivered a slick backhand pass to Pavel Dorofeyev (8) in the right circle, who fired a wrist shot past Dostal’s blocker at 2:52 of the third. Just ten minutes later, Dorofeyev scored another goal on a poorly angled shot from below the right circle to give the Golden Knights a 5–1 lead. The goal moved Dorofeyev past teammate Brett Howden for most postseason goals in the NHL with nine.

At the end of the third, Anaheim pulled Dostal and fired a large number of shots at Hart, but none found the back of the net and the Golden Knights won the series. The Golden Knights will now advance to the Western Conference Finals where they will face the NHL’s best regular-season team, the Colorado Avalanche. Game 1 takes place on Wednesday at 5PM PT in Denver.

notes

• Vegas defenseman Braden McNabb served a one-game suspension for interference against Anaheim center Ryan Poehling in Game 5. McNabb has played in 757 games for the Golden Knights in the regular season and postseason combined, the most in franchise history.
• Anaheim went into Game 6 with a 7–0 all-time lead at home.
• Anaheim did not lose consecutive games this postseason and finished the season 4–2 at home, with the only two losses coming in Vegas.

statistics

• Shots on goal favor Anaheim, 32–21.
• Amazingly, the faceoff winning percentage was exactly the same as Game 5, 53.1% to 46.9% in favor of Vegas.
• Vegas was 1-2 on the power play, while Anaheim was 1-5.
• Anaheim had the edge in hits, 30–24.
• Vegas stopped 13 shots, while Anaheim stopped 11.
• Anaheim had three more possessions than Vegas, 20–17.
• Anaheim got a slight edge in takeaways, 5-4.