The Anaheim Ducks have put themselves in the middle of a playoff series nobody expected them to reach this spring, and now they return for Game 5 tied 2-2 with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Ducks, who finished the regular season 43-33-6 and third in the Pacific Division, are one win from moving within a single victory of the second round.
That is a sharp turn for a team that had not been back to the postseason since 2017-18, when it was swept out of the playoffs. This season, the Ducks already knocked off Edmonton in six games in the first round, then traded blows with Vegas, with the two clubs alternating wins and losses through the first four games.
Lukas Dostal has been central to that rise. The Ducks goalie finished the season 30-20-4 with a 3.10 goals allowed average and a.888 save percentage, but he was pulled in Game 3 after giving up three goals in the first period. Anaheim still reached this point, which says as much about the rest of the roster as it does about its netminder.
The Golden Knights bring a very different kind of postseason résumé. They entered the league in 2017, reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season and lost to the Capitals, won the Cup once, and have made the playoffs in all but one year of their existence. They also finished first in the Pacific Division this season at 39-26-17 and advanced by beating the Utah Mammoth in six games, with two of those wins coming in overtime.
Vegas has also handled the betting side of this series better than Anaheim. The Golden Knights’ two wins covered the puckline, while the Ducks are listed at +136 for tonight’s game. Carter Hart has started every postseason game for Vegas and has allowed 27 goals while making 283 saves, but the numbers also point to a series that has been tighter than a first-place team would prefer.
That is where Game 5 usually tilts the board. In NHL playoff series tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 goes on to take the matchup about 82% of the time, a statistic that hangs over both benches as the series shifts again. For Anaheim, this is a chance to turn an unexpected run into something much bigger. For Vegas, it is a chance to avoid letting a season built on consistency slip into danger.
