ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 Two days later, Honda Center was a much quieter place. An empty arena, other than the rhythmic and random sounds of skate blades cutting through the ice and pucks being banged about.<\/p>\n
It was another workday for the Anaheim Ducks, but this one was full of anticipation. The sounds of a euphoric crowd celebrating the franchise\u2019s first playoff series victory in nine years will continue to echo for all who basked in the moment. But for the Ducks, their Saturday at the office meant that thrilling page had to be turned. After they took down the Edmonton Oilers, there\u2019s another Pacific Division foe with a serious Stanley Cup-contending pedigree to focus on.<\/p>\n
It will be the first postseason meeting between the Ducks and the Vegas Golden Knights \u2014 Game 1 of the second-round series is Monday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas \u2014 a new opponent in a new territory for many Ducks players who have embarked on their first trip through high-stakes, best-of-seven hockey, and what they hope won\u2019t be an end anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, our goal is to keep winning,\u201d said Jackson LaCombe, who starred against Edmonton with 9 points to lead all playoff defensemen. \u201cWin as many hockey games as you can. We just have to move on right away and get ready for Game 1. There\u2019s no secrets here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ducks had Friday off after a 5-2 series-clinching Game 6 victory over Edmonton signaled their arrival as a playoff threat, a stage they hope to start from each spring and take steps toward Stanley Cup contention. Troy Terry said it was a day to rest and reflect, to celebrate their elimination of the two-time Western Conference champions, and then it was time to clock back in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an exciting time to be at the rink,\u201d Terry said. \u201cIt\u2019s May, and you guys are still talking to me. It\u2019s new for me. It\u2019s new to a lot of us, and it\u2019s just exciting to come to the rink. But today, definitely it\u2019s back to business.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a way, the Golden Knights were very much like the Oilers during the regular season \u2014 looking little like a Pacific power and perhaps even streakier than Edmonton with how they alternated between winning stretches and lengthy losing spells. At one point, the Golden Knights went 4-10-2 up until the end of March.<\/p>\n
But with the Ducks struggling at the end, Vegas closed with seven wins and 15 points in its final eight games to capture the division title and home-ice advantage in the first round against the Utah Mammoth. The Ducks had more wins (43) and captured all three meetings by 4-3 scores. Two of those were in overtime, when Anaheim thrived. Vegas struggled badly after regulation play but still gained 17 points there and had seven fewer regulation losses.<\/p>\n
It is still a franchise that has focused on the present ever since its magical inaugural season capped by the run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. The \u201cGolden Misfits\u201d are now but a fond memory. They\u2019ve been in mercenary mode ever since. Two more runs to the Western Conference final and another semifinal finish in the reconfigured COVID-19 playoffs. Then the ultimate payoff in 2023: winning the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n
But the Golden Knights have had a first-round loss to the Dallas Stars in 2024 and a second-round defeat by the Oilers last year. Failure does not sit well with them. They reacted to their only playoff miss in their eight-year history by firing Pete DeBoer as coach. And when they scuffled throughout March, they replaced their Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a great team, obviously,\u201d LaCombe said. \u201cAnd a new coach in there, too, so they\u2019re going to play hard. They have a lot of experience, too. They know how to win hockey games, so it\u2019s going to be a big challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their six-game victory over the Mammoth, the Knights\u2019 experience was the difference in overcoming a 2-1 series deficit. Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore, an Anaheim first-round draft pick, won Game 4 in overtime after Vegas blew a lead. Brett Howden had the tying third-period goal in that game and then won Game 5 in double overtime after Pavel Dorofeyev\u2019s hat-trick goal tied the score in the final minute of regulation.<\/p>\n
Vegas rolled in Game 6 as Mitch Marner\u2019s two goals powered an easy 5-1 win. The Knights have a combination of stars such as Marner, Mark Stone and Jack Eichel, who has eight assists and 9 points, but they\u2019ve got effective role players who provide offense in key moments. Howden has stood out with four goals after scoring 12 during the season. Fourth-liners Cole Smith, Colton Sissons and Nic Dowd each scored twice against Utah.<\/p>\n
This could be a vastly different series from a stylistic standpoint. Against the Oilers, the Ducks were much faster and caused problems with their transition game. Part of the reason they scored 26 goals in the six games is their skill and tenacity fed off Edmonton\u2019s turnovers and suspect goaltending.<\/p>\n
But, in the words of Terry, the Golden Knights \u201care a lot more structured in their play.\u201d It figures to be harder hockey. Battles in the corners and along the boards. Heightened play at the nets.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re probably not going to get as many rush chances against them,\u201d Terry said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to play in their end. Get behind them. And that\u2019s why they\u2019ve been successful. They\u2019ve got that structure kind of feel to their team. They\u2019re experienced. They\u2019ve been around, they\u2019ve played. Won a Cup a couple of years ago. They\u2019ve been deep in the playoffs. And so they\u2019ve just got that experience, but they\u2019ve also just got some really high-end players that, similar to Edmonton, we have to make sure we\u2019re managing the puck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think that we need to realize that it might be a little different ways to create offense. It might not be turnovers, and we\u2019re getting odd-man rushes or whatever the case is. We might have to manufacture a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added forward Jeffrey Viel, who noted their combination of high-end skill and physical, gritty play, \u201cThey\u2019re a pretty complete team. Definitely going to have our hands full.\u201d<\/p>\n
Play doesn\u2019t figure to be as wide-open as it was against the Oilers. But the Ducks don\u2019t want to stray too far from what has made them successful. They\u2019re a team that wants to get down the ice as fast as they can, as responsibly as they can. No need to change now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always play to our strengths at the same time with awareness of what they like to do,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. \u201cI thought we matched up in that last series with a big challenge, and I thought that we did well. \u2026 There are more little details that you just add to your game. \u2026 But we don\u2019t really want to change the way we think or play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday will be a travel day for the Ducks. A study day as well. And they\u2019ll be back on the ice Monday morning with a new task to tackle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s much of a reset,\u201d forward Chris Kreider said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have our meetings and get ready for Vegas, but it\u2019s not like we have a week and a half off here. We got to go two days instead of one. There\u2019s not much of a reset. Just keep it rolling.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can go back to the regular season where you take the lesson, leave the mistake from the game prior, whether or not you win or lose, try to build, try to improve, and get ready for the next opponent. But the games come at you hard and fast, and it\u2019s a pretty condensed schedule. Regular season or playoff hockey. Just take care of yourself and get ready for the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many didn\u2019t foresee this task. The Ducks got in the way of another Oilers-Golden Knights playoff clash. And they\u2019re out to be more than a challenger to the Pacific Division\u2019s ruling class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our team has done a great job so far in our first playoff series,\u201d LaCombe said. \u201cWe always knew we were a good team. We had confidence in each other and trust in each other. If people see us in a good way or a bad way, it doesn\u2019t really matter to us. We just want to keep playing and having fun, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 Two days later, Honda Center was a much quieter place. An empty arena, other than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,404,8614],"class_list":["post-298937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-nhl","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}