Golden Knights will look to win Game 6, advance to West Final without suspended McNabb 

ANAHEIM -- The Vegas Golden Knights face a challenge without Brayden McNabb against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 of the Western Conference Second Round at Honda Center on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, TVAS).

“I don’t think you can substitute for a guy of that magnitude for us,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. 

The defenseman will serve a one-game suspension for interference on Anaheim center Ryan Poehling, while the Golden Knights, ahead 3-2 in the best-of-7 series, try to eliminate the Ducks and advance to the Western Conference Final against the Colorado Avalanche. Poehling is out with an undisclosed injury because of the hit.

McNabb has played 757 games for the Golden Knights in the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs combined, most in their history.

He is averaging 22:24 of ice time -- including 3:29 on the penalty kill, most on the Golden Knights -- in the playoffs this year entering Game 5, when he left at the 9-minute mark of the first period after receiving a major penalty for interference and game misconduct.

The Golden Knights are already without defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, who will miss his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Kaedan Korczak is expected to play for the first time in four games.

Shea Theodore, who usually plays with McNabb on the right side of the top pair, likely will switch to the left and partner with Dylan Coghlan.

“We’re going to have lean on him even more now with ‘Nabber’ out,” Tortorella said. “But the thing that always impresses me about him is just his vision and how he gets us up the ice.”
Theodore leads Vegas skaters in average ice time (25:45) and defensemen with seven points (three goals, four assists) in 11 games in the playoffs. He led Vegas skaters in ice time (30:00) and blocked shots (four) in Game 5, a 3-2 overtime win.

A left-handed shot, Theodore hasn’t played on the left side all season for Vegas, but he played each side for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Milan in February.

“I think there’s a lot of plays in the (defensive) zone that you’re on your forehand more as opposed to being on your backhand,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s easier, but there is definitely some benefits.”

The Ducks wants to take advantage of the situation by pressuring the Golden Knights defense.

“I think we had stretches in the last game and the whole series where we’ve had zone time,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ve made it tough on them. That’s one of their strengths. It’s five guys that contribute to their strong defensive play. But I think we want to make sure that we make them defend more than their fair share without one of their top defensemen.”

Theodore pointed out that the Golden Knights handled McNabb’s absence well in Game 5, when he played only 3:17.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure, but I mean, we pretty much missed him all of last game,” he said. “I think he played three minutes, so we had the five-man rotation. I thought we did a pretty good job overall. Guys stepped up when we needed to. Guys played some hard minutes, and that’s what we’re going to have to do again tonight.”