Ducks bring speed to challenge the playoff-tested Golden Knights

Young Ducks rising

LaCombe appeared to signal his arrival as an NHL star in the first round with nine points and shutdown defense against Connor McDavid, but other Anaheim youngsters also had auspicious playoff debuts. Leo Carlsson scored eight points and thrived in the run-and-gun tempo of the first series, demonstrating his formidable two-way game while centering Anaheim’s top line. The 21-year-old Swede led the Ducks with 28 shots. Cutter Gauthier kept up the pace from his 41-goal regular season, pumping four past the Oilers – three on the power play with his vicious one-timers from the faceoff circle. The 22-year-old wing had seven points and forced the Oilers to pay inordinate attention to his side of the ice and created opportunities for the likes of linemate Ryan Poehling, who scored four goals.

The other Great One

Golden Knights forward Brett Howden was being interviewed at his locker Sunday when teammate Keegan Kolesar yelled out, “Brettsky!” Howden kept on talking, and even he knows it's a little much to be compared to Wayne Gretzky. “(Kolesar) likes to call me whatever he wants to call me,” Howden said with a chuckle. “Only my dad and my mom called me that growing up.” The Golden Knights are probably done for the season if not for Howden. He scored four goals over the final three games. Two were short-handed, including the Game 5 overtime winner.

Anaheim roots, Vegas heights

The careers of Shea Theodore and William Karlsson will come full circle in this series: Two of the most important players in Golden Knights history began their NHL careers in Anaheim before ex-Ducks general manager Bob Murray foolishly let them go. Theodore, a first-round pick by Anaheim, was two seasons into his NHL career when Murray traded him to Vegas in 2017 to ensure the Knights would not pick Josh Manson off the Ducks’ unprotected list in the expansion draft. Theodore has been a mainstay on Vegas’ blue line ever since, become the top-scoring defenseman in team history. Karlsson, a Ducks second-round pick in 2011, was still finding his NHL stride when Murray traded him to Columbus in March 2015 in an inexplicable deal for aging defenseman James Wisniewski, who played only 13 games for Anaheim. Vegas took Karlsson in the expansion draft two years later, and “Wild Bill” grew into the second-leading scorer in Golden Knights history. He has been sidelined since last November with a lower-body injury, but is back skating in practice and might suit up this in this series.

Special teams could decide it

Both teams made it this far because of their success on special teams. For the Ducks, that came off the power play, where they converted 50% of their chances against the Oilers. The penalty kill was key for the Golden Knights, in which they were 15 of 16 and even outscored the Mammoth 2-1 on the Utah power play. “I think it can definitely carry over,” McNabb said of the PK. “It's been good all year. It's something we're going to need.” \\\_ AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham in Anaheim, California, contributed to this report. \\\_ AP NHL: