2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Ducks vs. Golden Knights Western 2nd Round preview

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features eight teams in four best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Western Conference Second Round between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks.

(3P) Anaheim Ducks vs. (1P) Vegas Golden Knights

Ducks: Defeated Edmonton Oilers 4-2 in first round 

Golden Knights: Defeated Utah Mammoth 4-2 in first round

Season series: VGK: 0-1-2; ANA: 3-0-0

The Vegas Golden Knights have been mainstays in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, qualifying for the postseason eight times in the nine seasons since they joined the NHL in the 2017-18 season. The Anaheim Ducks, on the other hand, are in the playoffs for the first time since they lost in the first round in 2018.

But make no mistake, the Ducks certainly looked as if they belonged in a six-game first-round win against the Edmonton Oilers, shutting down elite talents in forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to reach the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17, the year before Vegas played its first game.

And what's more, Anaheim won all three meetings with Vegas this season, all by 4-3 scores, two of them in overtime.

"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," Ducks forward Troy Terry said Saturday. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything going into the playoffs, but we know we can play with them and beat them.

"They won a Cup a couple years ago, they've been deep in the playoffs, so they've just got that experience, but also some really high-end players." 

The Ducks, despite having young, rising stars like forwards Leo Carlsson, 21, Cutter Gauthier, 22, Beckett Sennecke, 20, and defenseman Jackson LaCombe, 25, have plenty of postseason experience on the roster and behind the bench. Forwards Alex Killorn (146 postseason games), Chris Kreider (129), Mikael Granlund (83), and defensemen John Carlson (143) and Jacob Trouba (79) are all playoff veterans, with Killorn winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Lightning and Carlson winning it with the Washington Capitals.

And then there is coach Joel Quenneville, who won the Cup three times as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks and has coached 231 postseason games, going 125-106.

"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," Quenneville said Saturday. "They've still got some top guys. 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."

The Golden Knights are no strangers to postseason success, having won the Stanley Cup in 2023. Forwards Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Pavel Dorofeyev, Brett Howden and Reilly Smith, defensemen Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore and goalie Adin Hill are members of the Cup-winning team still with Vegas.

What’s new is coach John Tortorella, who took over for Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the regular season, and led Vegas to a 7-0-1 finish, the Pacific Division title and home ice in the first two rounds of the playoffs. He has coached in 126 postseason games, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004.

"Good team speed, fast team," Stone said of Anaheim. "A lot of good young skill. Good veteran presence as well. 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. ... Happy with what we've done. Move on and be ready for Sunday, a good day of practice and film."

The one thing each team brings is offense. The Ducks led all teams in the first round with 26 goalsm and the  Golden Knights were tied for second with 23. That will put a lot of pressure on goalies Lukas Dostal of Anaheim, who is the postseason for the first time, and Carter Hart of Vegas, whose only other playoff appearance was in 2019-20, when he played 14 games for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Game breakers

Ducks: LaCombe dominated at both ends of the ice in his first playoff series, serving notice he has the potential to become of the best defensemen in the NHL. The 25-year-old led Anaheim with nine points (one goal, eight assists) in the six-game series win against the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round. LaCombe was also impressive keeping Oilers captain Connor McDavid in check, winning more than his share of 1-on-1 battles against the League scoring champion. LaCombe played in all situations for Anaheim and averaged a team high 27:00 minutes per game.

Golden Knights: Take your pick. Center Jack Eichel had nine points (one goal, eight assists) in the first round, tied for the lead among players remaining in the postseason. Then you have forward Mitch Marner, who had seven points (two goals, five assists) against Utah, and forward Brett Howden, who had four goals. But for game-breaking ability, it has to be forward Pavel Dorofeyev, who had four goals in the series, including a hat trick in Game 5, to turn the series around. He had three even-strength goals and one power-play goal and if he gets going, he could make life miserable for Anaheim.

Goaltending

Ducks: Dostal was a key to eliminating the Oilers, making a number of timely saves through the series, particularly in a 4-3 overtime win in Game 4. He  started all six games against the Oilers and had 4-2 record with a 3.87 goals against average and .874 save percentage. He was pulled in Game 5 after giving up three goals on nine shots in the first period in Anaheim’s 4-1 loss, but rebounded with a strong performance in Game 6, making 25 saves in the 5-2 win. The 25-year-old is in his second full season as the Ducks No. 1 goalie. He had a 30-20-4 record in 56 games (55 starts) with a 3.10 goals against average and a .888 save percentage this season. The native of Brno, Czech Republic also played for Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, starting four of five games.

Golden Knights: Hart was not spectacular in the first round, with a 2.72 GAA and .898 save percentage, but stopped all 21 shots he faced in three overtime periods in Game 4 and Game 5, which went double overtime. And he was stellar in the Game 6 win on Friday, when he allowed one goal on 23 shots, a .957 save percentage.

Numbers to know

Ducks: Fourteen. That’s the number of players who made their playoff debuts for Anaheim against the Edmonton. LaCombe set a Ducks record for most points and assists by a defenseman in a single playoff series surpassing Dmitri Mironov (one goal, six assists) and J.J. Daigneault (two goals, five assists) who set the standard in seven games in the 1997 Western Conference quarter final. Forwards Carlsson and Troy Terry each had eight points (three goals, five assists) in their first playoff series, and Gauthier had seven points (four goals, three assists). Forward Ryan Poehling had four goals in his first playoff series to lead the Ducks.

Golden Nights: Ten. That’s the number of third-period comeback wins Vegas has during the regular season, tied for second in the NHL behind … Anaheim (12). Then the Golden Knights had three more in the first round. Don’t change the channel in this series.

They said it

“We’ve got a taste of playoff hockey, 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.” - Ducks coach Joel Quenneville

"Good team speed, fast team. A lot of good young skill, good veteran presence as well." – Golden Knights captain Mark Stone on the Ducks

Will win if ...

Ducks: Their young talent continues to play without fear and are again not intimidated by a team with a lot more playoff experience. Skilled offensively, the Ducks are comfortable playing from behind, which is not always a recipe for playoff success, but it makes them a tough team to put away. Anaheim had three comeback wins against Edmonton. The Ducks scored a number of goals off the rush against the Oilers, utilizing their speed and taking advantage of turnovers in the neutral zone or just inside their blue line. 

Golden Knights: They can shut down the Anaheim power play, which was lethal against Edmonton, going 8-for-16. The Golden Knights were short-handed 16 times against the Mammoth and only allowed one power-play play goal. If they can stay out of the box or keep the Ducks’ power play off the board when they do take a penalty, it will go a long way toward winning the series. Anaheim and Vegas each scored 17 goals at 5-on-5 in their respective series -- tied for most in the playoffs -- so this could come down to special teams.

How they look 

Ducks projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Leo Carlsson -- Troy Terry

Alex Killorn -- Mikael Granlund -- Beckett Sennecke

Mason McTavish -- Ryan Poehling-- Cutter Gauthier

Jeffrey Viel -- Tim Washe -- Ian Moore

Jackson LaCombe -- Jacob Trouba

Pavel Mintyukov -- John Carlson

Tyson Hinds -- Radko Gudas

Lukas Dostal

Ville Husso

Scratched: Olen Zellweger, Frank Vatrano, Drew Helleson

Injured: Jansen Harkins (hand surgery), Ross Johnston (lower body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Pavel Dorofeyev

Brett Howden -- Mitch Marner -- Mark Stone

Reilly Smith -- Tomas Hertl -- Keegan Kolesar

Cole Smith -- Nic Dowd -- Colton Sissons

Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore

Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson

Jeremy Lauzon -- Kaedan Korczak

Carter Hart

Adin Hill

Scratched: Ben Hutton, Brandon Saad, Akira Schmid

Injured: William Karlsson (lower body), Jonas Rondbjerg (lower body)