The Vegas Golden Knights can clinch another Western Conference Final berth on Thursday night if they beat the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 at Honda Center. Vegas enters the game with a 3-2 overtime win in its pocket from Game 5 and a chance to wrap the series on the road.
Brayden McNabb will serve a one-game suspension after a hit on Anaheim center Ryan Poehling in Game 5, a turn that removes one of Vegas’ most trusted defenders at a time when the club is trying to finish off a playoff round away from home. McNabb was averaging 22:24 of ice time entering Game 5 and led the Golden Knights in penalty-kill time at 3:29. He left at the 9-minute mark of the first period after drawing a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct, while Poehling is out with an undisclosed injury from the play.
The consequence reaches beyond one game. Vegas is trying to reach the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in nine seasons since entering the NHL in 2017-18, a run that has already taken it to the conference final in 2018, 2020 and 2023 and to the NHL Semifinals in 2021 when the playoff format changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Golden Knights are also hunting their 14th series win, which would be the most in the league since they joined, passing Tampa Bay.
Anaheim, though, has not made this easy at home. The Ducks are 4-1 at Honda Center in this postseason and have not lost consecutive games, which is part of why the series still has life going into Thursday. John Tortorella said he expects both teams to be better, adding that his group does not see this as simply a close-out game but as a chance to be sharper than it was last time. Joel Quenneville said the Ducks need to come out excited about being home, start hard and push harder than they have all year long.
Vegas will be without McNabb, Jeremy Lauzon will miss his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury, and Shea Theodore is likely to switch to the left side to pair with Dylan Coghlan. Kaedan Korczak is expected to play for the first time in four games. On Anaheim’s side, Mason McTavish might move from wing to center and Jansen Harkins could enter the lineup, while Poehling’s absence also strips away a key penalty killer who had five points in 11 games this postseason, including four goals and one assist.
If Anaheim forces a Game 7, it would be back at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. The winner of the series will move on to face the Colorado Avalanche in the conference final, which is the next step both teams are chasing for different reasons and with very different pieces in motion.
