ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mitch Marner scored a tremendous goal 62 seconds after the opening faceoff, Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice in the third period and the Vegas Golden Knights cruised into the Western Conference finals with a 5-1 victory over Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 of the second round Thursday night.
Brett Howden scored his third short-handed goal of the playoffs and Shea Theodore got a power-play goal during a 3-0 first period for the Golden Knights, who reached the third round of the NHL postseason for the first time since they won their lone Stanley Cup championship in 2023 — and for the fifth time in this charmed expansion franchise’s nine seasons of existence.
Marner played a role in all three of Vegas’ first-period goals while raising his NHL-leading playoff point total to 18, and Game 5 overtime goal-scorer Dorofeyev put the game away with a huge third period. Carter Hart made 31 saves as the veteran-laden Golden Knights ended the upstart Ducks’ first playoff appearance since 2018.
Vegas will face an exponentially bigger challenge in the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Presidents’ Trophy and then improved to 8-1 in the postseason on Wednesday by ousting Minnesota in five games.
Mikael Granlund scored a power-play goal for the Ducks, whose return from a seven-year playoff drought ended when their young roster was unable to match the veteran Knights’ playoff poise in three losses over the past four games.
Lukas Dostal stopped 16 shots for Anaheim, which couldn’t overcome another poor first period in Game 6, ending their encouraging first season under coach Joel Quenneville.
The Knights are 15-4-1 since John Tortorella replaced Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy on March 29, surging past the Ducks to claim the Pacific Division title before beating Utah and Anaheim in the first two playoff rounds.
CANADIENS 6, SABRES 3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Captain Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans scored 68 seconds apart late in the second period, and Montreal defeated Buffalo to take a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Montreal surged with a three-goal second period, and never led until Evans swept a loose puck over the goal line behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to put the Canadiens up 4-3 with 3:45 remaining. Suzuki then scored 10 seconds into a power-play opportunity by converting Juraj Slafkovsky’s one-handed pass from the end boards and beating Luukkonen through the legs with a shot from the lower right circle.
Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson, Ivan Demidov and Alexandre Texier also scored for Montreal, which will host Game 6 on Saturday night. Jakub Dobes allowed three goals on the first four shots he faced before finishing with 33 saves.
Josh Doan, Jason Zucker and rookie Konsta Helenius, appearing in his second career playoff game, scored for Buffalo.
Luukkonen allowed five goals on 23 shots, and was pulled after two periods — the second time he’s been yanked this postseason. Alex Lyon mopped up in allowing a goal on three shots. Lyon is potentially in line to regain the starting duties after losing the job following a 6-2 loss in Game 3.
The Sabres have dropped two of three at home in the series, and were coming off a 3-2 win at Montreal on Tuesday.
