Ducks rolled early by Vegas in Game 6, end 'springboard' season in 2nd round

“Vegas got better every single game,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “They played very well. They checked well. They deserved to win. Tonight was kind of what happened too many times this year, where we gave up a couple quick ones early, and it's a tough comeback against a team that knows how to play hockey.”

Just as they did to open a dismal Game 3, Vegas scored at all three strengths to pace their series-clinching win, and it was Anaheim shooting itself in the foot, which the young Ducks did far too much in these playoffs.

“We just weren’t fast enough,” Mikael Granlund said. “We weren’t playing very crisp. You’re chasing the game right away. That’s not a recipe to win in the playoffs.”

Anaheim allowed an opening-minute strike, as Jackson LaCombe got caught on a pinch deep in the offensive zone. Mitch Marner got behind LaCombe and was sprung by William Karlsson, and despite LaCombe battling back, Marner won the puck battle and sat on top of the goal crease on his backhand.

Marner finished with a highlight between-the-legs stuff to beat Lukáš Dostál and set the tone in a downhill first period for Anaheim.

"Obviously not happy,” LaCombe said. “Obviously a lot of things we wish could've done different… Just made a mistake early, and didn't put ourselves in a good spot."

The Ducks had a chance to respond with its power play, which had finally scored in back-to-back games, but again, it was Marner that turned the tide. On a shorthanded rush, LaCombe and Alex Killorn were puck focused on Marner, which allowed Brett Howden to find an open lane to the backside. Marner threaded it through for the 2-0 lead 8:30 into Game 6.

The salt on Anaheim’s wounds came nine minutes later, when former Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore shot a puck through traffic right off the opening faceoff of a Vegas power play. Dostál never saw it, and just like that, the Golden Knights had a 3-0 lead into the break.

The Ducks scratched back in the second period, as Mikael Granlund scored on a power play snipe set up by a slick move into space by Troy Terry, but Anaheim was a step behind all night long.

Vegas added two more in the third period both by Game 5 overtime hero Pavel Dorofeyev–a snipe from the slot after a John Carlson turnover and a sharp-angle squeaker between Dostal and the near post–to close out the win.

“I really do think we had every chance to beat that team,” Granlund said. “It was a really tight series. Next season, we want to get better, get further. It’s hard to think that far away right now. Disappointment is the only thing in my mind right now.”

As they had done all series, Vegas clogged the shooting lanes and denied the Ducks the middle of the ice. Anaheim could never generate second-chance opportunities on rebounds, as the Golden Knights boxed out and swiped away loose pucks, and that was if the Ducks got pucks through.

“You get into the playoffs, you get a taste of it, what it takes at that level,” Terry said. “I think we learned, myself included, how to play in those games. And I think that’s kind of the difference, even in the regular season, it’s just a team like Vegas, learning how to manage those games. And just the experience and the confidence moving into next year.”

After a run-and-gun opening round romp over the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim was ultimately stifled by the physical defensive veteran know-how of a battle-tested Golden Knights roster.

And that’s okay.

Obviously, it doesn’t feel like that at the moment, and maybe not even tomorrow. That was a tough way to come out with your season on the line, and the Ducks got properly punished for it.

“I know it stings right now, but I think I speak for everyone that we’ll be hungry going into the summer,” Terry said. “It just, I don’t say rejuvenated, created a new, especially for me, selfishly, a spark. It was fun to play in this. It’s been a long time. I think I speak for a lot of guys on that team, we’re all just excited to get to work and be back next year.”

However, as mentioned at the top, these Ducks are ahead of schedule. They had achieved the stated goal of making the playoffs this year, but even that was shaky.

On paper, it looked like it would be a tight battle for a wild card spot before the season began, and despite those long runs on top of the Pacific Division during the year, Anaheim ultimately did just enough to pull out of a late-season nosedive and still take a playoff spot in the division’s top three.

Some of the veterans didn’t want to hear it while the run was going on, but the experiences gained by the Ducks over the course of these playoffs and particularly on a night like tonight will do wonders as they jump into contending for a Stanley Cup.

And make no mistake, that Stanley Cup Championship window is now wide open to jump into. Just as there were leaps and bounds in the growth of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke and Jackson LaCombe this season, there will only be more jumps for the team as a whole, as those players continue to develop and this franchise is back in the running as a quite attractive place to play.

“It’s always nice making the playoffs,” Sennecke said, “but I think we know what our goal is for next year. It sucks.”

This is also where the kid gloves come off, though.

Gauthier said himself after Game 5 that, “we're not gonna take it for granted, and we're not just gonna be happy that we're here.” Moving forward, that is absolutely the case. No more getting credit for just getting here.

There will be scrutiny on Dostál for the goals allowed on early shots and on the team as a whole for the embarrassing amount of slow starts this fast team had.

LaCombe’s big money contract will kick in, and for as good as he was putting the clamps on an injured Connor McDavid in the first round, defensive breakdowns like the one that opened this game cannot happen.

After the first year of his big money contract and healthy scratches in the regular season and playoffs, questions will be asked if Mason McTavish can live up to that potential.

Carlsson–one goal and two assists in the series–and Gauthier–no goals and five assists–will have to negotiate their own big-money contracts, and their play will also have to live up to the dollar figure.

And certainly, no extra rope given to the veterans staying like Chris Kreider–two goals and five assists in 13 playoff games and costly turnovers in the pivotal Game 5 in Vegas–or those that may not come back–contracts are up for defensemen Jacob Trouba, John Carlson and Radko Gudas.

But those are questions for later–some in June, some in July, but most in September when the team rejoins for the 2026-27 training camp.

“I think we have a lot of character pieces here. That’s where the growth starts, but this was an experience where this should help us moving forward,” Quenneville said. “Expectations are going to be higher. They should be higher individually and collectively, as well. That’s how you get better.”

For now, as the Orange County faithful that waited eight long years to see playoff hockey again cheered the Ducks off the ice, Anaheim can reflect on a monstrous season that moved this franchise forward back into a competitive space.

Two seasons ago, the Ducks simply yearned for “meaningful games.” These games were more meaningful than ever, and the goal now moves far beyond that.

“At the same time, you can't take it for granted. I'm well aware of how hard it is to make the playoffs,” Terry, the longest-tenured Duck and last remaining Anaheim player from that 2018 playoff roster, “and I do hope that this springboards us into the way we look at other teams, and the way we look at ourselves, and just the confidence that we're bringing into next year, and how we stack up. And just the hunger that hopefully it gives–I know it gave me a new energy and I want to play in these games again. So I think it does feel like it could be the start of something, but there's a lot of work to be had.”