Vegas will face the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final. The Golden Knights advanced to the third round for the fourth time in the past seven seasons.
Game 1 of the best-of-7 series will be at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice in the third period, and Mitch Marner and Shea Theodore each had a goal and an assist for Vegas, the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division. Carter Hart made 31 saves.
Mikael Granlund scored, and Lukas Dostal made 16 saves for the Ducks, the No. 3 seed from the Pacific.
The Golden Knights scored on the first shot of the game for the second time in the series.
Marner gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 1:02 of the first period. William Karlsson made a stretch pass to Marner, who was a step ahead of Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe. Marner slowed up as he neared the crease, causing LaCombe to skate past him, then turned his back to the net before pulling the puck through his legs and pushing it across the goal line.
Marner leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists).
Brett Howden’s short-handed goal then extended it to 2-0 at 8:30 on the game’s first power play. Marner took the puck off the wall after the Ducks rimmed it around in the Vegas end and carried it into the Anaheim zone. Marner saw Howden slip behind LaCombe and Alex Killorn and fed him for a one-timer from the right hash marks.
Theodore scored on Vegas’ first power play to push it to 3-0 at 17:19, converting five seconds into the man-advantage with a snap shot from above the hash marks.
Granlund’s power-play goal cut it to 3-1 at 12:46 of the second period with a snap shot from the left face-off circle.
Dorofeyev made it 4-1 at 2:52 of the third period, scoring from the right circle after Ivan Barbashev stole a clearing attempt by John Carlson in the Anaheim zone and fed Dorofeyev.
Dorofeyev extended it to 5-1 at 13:30 after scoring short side from just above the goal line.
Dorofeyev, who had five goals during a three-game streak to end the series, has an NHL-leading nine this postseason.
