Ducks ‘know we can play’ with Golden Knights in Western 2nd Round

ANAHEIM -- The Anaheim Ducks returned to Honda Center for practice on Saturday for the first time since advancing to the Western Conference Second Round, where they’ll face the Vegas Golden Knights.

The mood was noticeably different.

"As soon as you stepped in the building today, it just felt like it didn't matter," Ducks forward Troy Terry said of the six-game win against the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, Anaheim's first series victory in nine years. "You can just feel it in the room. It's shifted over to, 'Let's get ready for Game 1.'"

The start of their next best-of-7 series is still to be determined. But like the first round, Anaheim, the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division, will play the first two games on the road with hopes of stealing home-ice advantage.

The Ducks swept the three-game regular-season series against the Golden Knights, the No. 1 seed in the Pacific, for the first time. The final score in each was 4-3, with two requiring overtime.

Those wins didn't come easy, but it has provided Anaheim a confidence boost heading into the second round.

"Within this room, we know they're a good team and we have a lot of respect for (them), but we swept them this year," Terry said. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything going into the playoffs, but we know we can play with them -- and beat them."

Anaheim managed to get past Edmonton, which reached the Stanley Cup Final the previous two seasons, using its size and speed to outmatch the injury-plagued Oilers for long stretches and advanced a 5-2 victory in Game 6 on Thursday.

"We're exiting our last series on a high note, knowing that we probably played our best game of the series, and maybe the season," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Next up is the Golden Knights, another opponent loaded with playoff experience. Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

"They've been deep in the playoffs, so they've just got that experience, but also some really high-end players," Terry said. "Similar to Edmonton, we have to make sure we're managing the puck. We need to realize that it might be a little different ways to create offense. It might not be turnovers and we're getting odd-man rushes."

That's because the Golden Knights play with a lot more structure than the Oilers, according to Terry.

"You're going to have to play in their end, get behind them, and that's why they've been successful," Terry said. "They've got that structure kind of feel to their team."

Quenneville said Vegas might be more symmetrical throughout its lineup than Edmonton.

"They've still got some top guys," he said. "At the same time, they're balanced on the front end and the back end throughout their lineup, so we expect four lines to be going.

“We expect a lot of skill, a lot of strong team-game they play. ... Playing the right way is going to be important here."