"We've got a taste of playoff hockey," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "Now, we get to experience another round, and I think this is healthy for us. We've got a young group that's still … you don't know how they're going to play, but you're certainly excited about what the upside is."
The Ducks, the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division, will open the best-of-7 series on the road against the Golden Knights, the No. 1 seed in the Pacific.
"Good team speed, fast team. A lot of good young skill, good veteran presence as well," Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said about the Ducks. "I guess I could probably answer that question a little bit better on Sunday. My focus was on Utah, but we obviously watch hockey games. You see the way they're skating, they're a good skating team with good skill. We'll do our preparation. We'll get a good day tomorrow to unwind. Happy with what we've done. Move on and be ready for Sunday, a good day of practice and film."
Anaheim has never played Vegas in the playoffs.
"Every game, every series has a new challenge, and from that all kinds of different variations that happen in the course of the first game to the next game to the next game," Quenneville said. "We've got four lines deep and six to eight defensemen ready to play. All the options are available."
Defenseman Jackson LaCombe led the Ducks in the first round with nine points (one goal, eight assists). Forwards Troy Terry (three goals, five assists) and Leo Carlsson (three goals, five assists) each had eight points.
Goalie Lukas Dostal was 4-2 with a 3.87 goals-against average and .874 save percentage in the first round. Ville Husso stopped 10 of 11 shots he faced after Dostal was pulled in the first period of Game 5.
The Ducks were 3-0-0 against the Golden Knights this season. Defenseman Jacob Trouba and Terry each had five points (one goal, four assists) against Vegas, and forward Chris Kreider, Gauthier and Carlsson each scored two goals.
Dostal was 2-0-0 with a 2.90 GAA and .905 save percentage, and Petr Mrazek, who had season-ending hip surgery in February, allowed three goals on 39 shots in a 4-3 overtime win on Nov. 8. Husso did not face the Golden Knights this season.
Forward Jack Eichel led Vegas in the first round with nine points (one goal, eight assists) in six games. Mitch Marner had seven points (two goals, five assists), Ivan Barbashev had six points (two goals, four assists), and Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden each scored four goals.
Carter Hart played every second of the series, going 4-2 with a 2.72 GAA and .898 save percentage.
Eichel had four assists against the Ducks during the regular season, and Barbashev had three points (one goal, two assists). Forward Tomas Hertl scored two goals.
Akira Schmid was 0-0-2 with a 3.75 GAA and .871 save percentage, and Adin Hill was 0-1-0 with a 3.08 GAA and .864 save percentage. Hart did not face the Ducks in the regular season.
