A lot has been manufactured from the previous Toronto Maple Leaf flipping the script and changing into a post-season stud for his new membership. The Vegas Golden Knights winger got here into Thursday night time’s Sport 6 assembly with the Anaheim Geese main the post-season in scoring, and sitting tied with Group Canada teammate Nathan MacKinnon for the scoring lead in Spherical 2, too.
One minute into Sport 6, Marner made clear he has no intention of slowing down, the smooth-skating winger breaking in on their own on Geese netminder Lukas Dostal, and pulling a grimy transfer to attract first blood for the Golden Knights.
Seven minutes later, he was on the board once more, establishing Brett Howden for a short-handed tally that wound up because the night time’s game-winning aim, and series-clinching aim.
The Geese weren’t capable of shut the hole, falling 5-1 ultimately, bringing their meteoric marketing campaign of progress to an in depth. For Vegas, the second-round win sends them again to the convention remaining for the primary time since their Cup-winning run in 2023. The group has reached the convention remaining 5 occasions since becoming a member of the league in 2017-18, probably the most of any membership in that span.
Marner was little doubt important in getting them there. It was an up-and-down common season for the winger in his first marketing campaign as a Knight — he posted 80 factors in Vegas after a career-best 102-point season to shut out his tenure in Toronto. However this Golden Knights run has seen Marner play the perfect hockey of his playoff profession. His seven objectives rank because the second-most tallied by a Golden Knights participant of their first post-season with the franchise, one behind Jonathan Marchessault’s eight in 2018, and Marner grew to become the second Golden Knight to document multi-point video games in two straight series-clinching tilts after posting two objectives and an help in Vegas’s series-ender towards Utah.
The Markham, Ont., product finishes Spherical 2 with a league-leading 18 factors by way of 12 video games in these playoffs — a career-best mark within the post-season. Extra importantly for him and his Golden Knights, he now heads into territory his former membership might by no means attain: the third spherical of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“He’s a game-breaker,” teammate Jack Eichel mentioned on the published after the ultimate buzzer sounded on Vegas’s series-clinching win. “You noticed it in that collection — he was the perfect participant in that collection. I imply, he comes out right here to start with of the primary interval, makes two unbelievable performs, and hastily you’re taking part in with a lead.
“He’s on a reasonably particular run proper now. It’s been a number of enjoyable to look at. I’m so joyful for him — I really feel like he’s had a number of critics, and I really feel like he’s shutting lots of people up proper now.”
Golden Knights’ special-teams dominance continues in series-clincher
The Golden Knights got here into Sport 6 vastly outperforming their younger opponent on the special-teams entrance.
By 5 video games on this collection, Vegas’s energy play was buzzing at 30.8 per cent, the second-best mark of all Spherical 2 members, whereas Anaheim’s man-advantage unit struggled to a 17.6-per cent success price. The identical went for the penalty kill — Vegas got here into Sport 6 with their kill working at 83.4 per cent, once more among the many finest in Spherical 2, in comparison with Anaheim’s 69.2 per cent.
In Sport 6, that development continued. A dominant first interval noticed Vegas construct a 3-0 lead on the again of some sterling special-teams play. After Marner’s opening-minute show, the Knights collected a short-handed aim and a power-play tally to place the Geese on their heels early.
Anaheim managed one power-play marker within the second interval — a Mikael Granlund snipe that wound up because the Geese’ solely aim of the night time — however total left loads of alternatives to get again within the sport on the desk. The Geese completed the night time 1-for-5 on the facility play, and 4-for-22 within the collection total — a stark drop-off from their league-leading 8-for-16 success price in Spherical 1.
Dorofeyev, Howden keep scorching, take over prime of playoffs goal-scoring race
Pavel Dorofeyev’s banner 12 months continued Thursday night time. The 25-year-old put up a career-best 37 objectives throughout the common season, besting the career-best 35 he potted a 12 months prior. And thru two rounds of this post-season, the Russian winger has stored that elite tempo alive.
He added two extra objectives in Sport 6, scoring the ultimate two tallies of Vegas’s 5-1 win, to take his 2026 post-season whole to a league-leading 9 objectives in 12 video games. Dorofeyev now has objectives in three straight, placing up 5 tallies in Video games 4, 5 and 6 to assist shut out the Geese.
Earlier within the night time, it was teammate Howden who briefly took over that prime spot within the playoff goal-scoring race when he tallied his eighth aim of the post-season. The 28-year-old had simply 12 objectives throughout the common season, and has already set a profession excessive within the playoff objectives class, sitting only a handful away from equalling that regular-season sum.
Howden’s short-handed tally Thursday night time was his third of this Golden Knights’ run, leaving him tied for probably the most in a single post-season.
Sennecke, Geese’ younger stars held off the board in pivotal Sport 6
Anaheim’s 20-year-old phenom, Beckett Sennecke, got here into Thursday night time’s tilt on fireplace — the winger had objectives in 4 straight video games heading into Sport 6, together with tallies in each of Anaheim’s wins on this collection.
Thursday night time, the run got here to an finish because the veteran Knights held Sennecke and the remainder of Anaheim’s younger stars — 22-year-old Cutter Gauthier, 21-year-old Leo Carlsson, and 25-year-old Jackson LaCombe — off the board. Sennecke, who finishes tied for the group lead in objectives throughout this playoff run, bought his probabilities, throwing a team-leading 5 photographs on internet, however was unable to interrupt by way of.
Nonetheless, although their 2026 run involves an finish, the Geese little doubt despatched a message this season in what was an immense step ahead for the group. After lacking the playoffs for a lot of the previous decade, the membership’s younger core turned their potential into efficiency in these playoffs, and put the remainder of the West on discover.
Subsequent up: Vegas meets Colorado within the Western Conference Final
Now, the trail will get far harder for the Golden Knights.
After taking down two youthful, extra inexperienced squads in Utah and Anaheim by way of the primary two rounds, Vegas now will get the other problem in Spherical 3: an extremely skilled Colorado Avalanche group that’s seemed far and away the perfect within the league all season.
Colorado enters Spherical 3 having swept the Los Angeles Kings in Spherical 1, adopted up by taking down one other bona fide contender, the Minnesota Wild, in Spherical 2. Within the common season, the Avs took two of three conferences with Vegas, successful as soon as in regulation and as soon as in a shootout, whereas the Knights claimed one win themselves in time beyond regulation.
In what will probably be a collection of seasoned vets, the Golden Knights and Avs will head into their third-round battle with 23 Cup winners dotted amongst each squads (12 for Vegas, 11 for Colorado), marking the primary time in additional than a decade {that a} convention remaining match-up will function two golf equipment with double-digit Cup winners on their rosters.
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