ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Vegas Golden Knights steamrolled the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 on Thursday night, silencing the crowd early and cruising to a 5-1 win to finish the second-round series and move on to another Western Conference final.

It’s the fifth time in nine years of existence that Vegas has been among the final four teams in the NHL. That leads all teams since 2017, as do the Golden Knights’ 70 playoff wins and 14 series victories. Next up: the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche, with Game 1 on Wednesday in Denver.

Watching Vegas roll on Thursday, as it has over much of its first nine seasons, it’s easy to forget how fragile things were for the Golden Knights just six weeks ago.

On March 30, the Golden Knights had lost 12 of their previous 16 games. They had fallen to third place in the lowly Pacific Division, only four points above the playoff cutline, and decided to fire Bruce Cassidy, their Stanley Cup-winning coach.

In came John Tortorella, the confidence whisperer.

“I think we were maybe doubting ourselves, and what we were trying to do out there,” Mitch Marner said Thursday. “Sometimes that happens, and Torts came in and brought our swagger back to where it needed to be.”

The Golden Knights looked unsure of themselves, constantly playing on their heels, and chasing games because of it.

Since the coaching change, they’ve won 15 of 20 games and two playoff series. They leaned on the Utah Mammoth in the first round, eventually wore them down and slammed the door in Game 6. In the second round, against an even more talented Ducks team, it was the same result.

“I always talk about how the season is really a roller-coaster ride,” Marner said. “There are going to be really high ups, and some possibly down bads. That’s how the season goes. You have to stay strong and stay with each other, and I think that we did a really good job of that throughout the tough moments of this season.”

The swagger-infused Golden Knights have resembled the dominant defensive team that smothered opponents en route to a championship in 2023.

“Jack (Eichel) and Mitch (Marner) both had really good series,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought their checking and the way they defended in their zone, and in front of their net and goaltender, was a strength. They’re one of the top teams in the league defending, so it was tough to get through it.”

The Ducks were competitive throughout the series. Early on, it looked like they might even pull the upset. As it went on, the Golden Knights imposed their will. On Thursday night, they hit the Ducks with an early haymaker punch in the form of a sensational, between-the-legs goal by Marner, and Anaheim never recovered.

“I thought we had a really good vibe going into today’s game, and felt good about guys being excited,” Quenneville said. “A couple quick goals, and we certainly lost a lot of our excitement.”

Marner assisted on Brett Howden’s short-handed goal minutes later to extend Vegas’ lead. It was Marner’s fourth short-handed assist of the postseason, and his league-leading 18th point of the postseason.

“I feel like me and Mitch are kind of building a little something here,” Howden said. “I’m learning to read off of him, and his instincts, and trying to get to the front of the net. He’s made some incredible plays to me.”

Pavel Dorofeyev added two more goals late – his eighth and ninth of the playoffs, which also lead the NHL.

Marner, Howden and Dorofeyev are the top three goal scorers in the postseason. Eichel is tied for second behind Marner with 15 points. Behind all of that, goalie Carter Hart, who was signed in October after he was acquitted of one count of sexual misconduct, has put up a .918 save percentage and 4.87 goals saved above expected over his last seven games.

In other words, the team looks to be at its best right now.

And it will need to be, because the real test comes next. The Colorado Avalanche, who led the NHL essentially from wire to wire this regular season, then had two impressive series wins over the Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild.

As good as the Golden Knights’ recent stretch has looked, it has also come in a clearly inferior side of the playoff bracket. Of the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs, the Golden Knights had the fifth-fewest points. The two teams they’ve eliminated had the second- and third-fewest points.

Now they face an Avalanche team that paced the league with 123 points, led by Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon and Norris Trophy finalist Cale Makar, and backstopped by William M. Jennings Trophy-winning goaltenders Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood.

“We’re playing a very high-talented team coming up here, so we have to make sure we’re doing all of those things right, and then when we get our opportunities, capitalize on them,” Marner said.

The Avalanche are heavy favorites, and well-deserved. The last time these teams met in the postseason, Colorado stormed out to a 2-0 series lead before Vegas won four straight. There has been plenty of roster turnover, on both sides, in the time since. That includes the addition of Marner, who is Vegas’ early favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Playing perhaps the best hockey of his career and set to play beyond the second round for the first time, Marner and his teammates are ready.

“The work now just keeps getting harder,” he said, “and we’re excited for it.”