3 Things to Watch: Ducks at Golden Knights, Game 5 of Western 2nd Round

(3P) Anaheim Ducks at (1P) Vegas Golden Knights

Western Conference Second Round, Game 5

Best-of-7 series tied 2-2

9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, SN, TVAS

LAS VEGAS -- The Anaheim Ducks are looking for another strong effort on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round.

The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2 with Game 6 in Anaheim on Thursday.

"We want to make sure that we're playing the game that's in front of us," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's been a very give-and-take series where everybody gets their turn and in the games, they get their turns as well. Momentum, we talk about a lot, but we want to make sure that we're ready."

Anaheim won 3-1 at T-Mobile Arena in Game 2 and tied the series with a 4-3 victory at home in Game 4.

The Ducks will again be without defenseman and captain Radko Gudas, who has not played since the opening game of the postseason against the Edmonton Oilers because of a lower-body injury.

Vegas will be without forward and captain Mark Stone, who sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of a 6-2 win in Game 3.

"When you have a series 2-2, I think it's energy, I think the energy's going to be high," Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. "This is where the players like to play, in these type of games where it's scrutinized. It's more high stakes now as far as basically a three-game series. I don't think there will be any problem with energy or mental fatigue or anything like that."

When a best-of-7 series is tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 goes on to win it 79.6 percent of the time (242-62). If the home team wins Game 5, they win 80.7 percent of the time (151-36). If the road team wins, they win 77.7 percent of the time (91-26).

Here are three things to watch in Game 5:

1. Ducks power play awakens

Anaheim was 0-for-11 with the man-advantage through the first three games and broke out with two goals in Game 4.

The Ducks are 10-for-31 (32.3 percent) on the power play in the playoffs, and it was a major factor (8-for-16) in their six-game victory against the Oilers in the first round.

"I think we just simplified it and got pucks to the net, and good things happened," forward Cutter Gauthier said. "We scored two unique goals that ordinarily don't go in on the power play, but they go in and we're going to try and keep things simple and keep getting pucks on net."

2. Marner magic

Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner leads the playoffs with 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 10 games. He can become the eighth player in NHL history to have four or more games with at least three points in his first postseason with a team.

Marner had three assists in Game 4 and hat trick and an assist in Game 3. His previous playoff high was 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in 11 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023.

The Golden Knights will need Marner to continue producing to make up for Stone's absence. He's another talented player added to an experienced roster who Tortorella is confident will respond well after losing Game 4.

"I think it's a group that self-assesses very well," Tortorella said. "So everywhere, our meetings, conversations we have with players. I'm not sure what the result's going to be tonight, but our team's ready to play."

3. Ebbs and flows

The Ducks and Golden Knights have taken turns dominating play throughout the series. Anaheim is looking to utilize its speed and create opportunities off the rush to build off its road win in Game 2.

"We did a lot of good things in that game, it was one of our best games of the season," Gauthier said. "We want to do that again, play connected, being together and keeping things simple and being extremely north and fast with the puck. The more times we can check those boxes, it's going to be an extremely good game for us."

Vegas is looking to maintain possession in the offensive zone and make the most of its strong cycle game.

"I think every game has its own challenges and teams are making adjustments," forward Jack Eichel said. "They're adjusting to us; we're adjusting to them every night and that's the beauty of the playoffs. You're trying to stay one step ahead of them. Obviously, we're trying to do things that benefit our game, as I'm sure they are."

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 -- Ross Johnston

Jackson LaCombe -- Jacob Trouba

Pavel Mintyukov -- John Carlson

Olen Zellweger -- Ian Moore

Lukas Dostal

Ville Husso

Scratched: Frank Vatrano, Jansen Harkins, Tyson Hindsrew

Injured: Radko Gudas (lower body), Drew Helleson (undisclosed)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel – Pavel Dorofeyev 

Brett Howden -- William Karlsson -- Mitch Marner

Brandon Saad -- Tomas Hertl -- Colton Sissons 

Cole Smith -- Nic Dowd -- Keegan Kolesar

Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore

Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson 

Ben Hutton -- Dylan Coghlan

Carter Hart

Adin Hill

Scratched: Braedan Bowman, Kaedan Korczak, Akira Schmid, Reilly Smith 

Injured: Jeremy Lauzon (upper body), Jonas Rondbjerg (lower body), Mark Stone (lower body)

Status report

The Ducks are expected to use the same lineup from their 4-3 win in Game 4. … The Golden Knights recalled Bowman, a forward, from Henderson of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.