Ducks’ season ends with Game 6 loss to Golden Knights

ANAHEIM — The basic concept in hockey that the game begins when the puck drops eluded the Ducks all season and, fittingly, a sluggish start ended their campaign on Thursday night at Honda Center.

They were lanced by the Vegas Golden Knights, 5-1, and eliminated from the playoffs in Game 6 of their second-round series after falling behind by three goals in the first period.

Their first game facing elimination went much like their first opportunity to close out a series in Game 5 of Round 1 against the Edmonton Oilers. In Edmonton, they also trailed by three at the first intermission, en route to a 4-1 defeat.

But that merely delayed destiny, whereas this loss cemented their ill fate.

“Vegas got better every single game, they played very well, they checked well and they deserved to win,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “Tonight was what happened too many times this year, where we gave up a couple quick ones early and it was tough to come back against a team that knows how to play hockey.”

Mikael Granlund had the Ducks’ lone goal. Lukáš Dostál had 16 saves, having made every postseason start.

Mitch Marner, who leads the playoffs with 18 points after pouring in 11 in this series, scored a goal, set up another by Brett Howden and was on the ice for a third by Shea Theodore, who added an assist. Pavel Dorofeyev deposited two insurance goals. Carter Hart stopped 31 shots and allowed two goals or fewer in five of six games in the series.

In all, the Ducks surrendered the first goal in 49 of 82 regular-season games, eight of 12 playoff contests and 57 of 94 matches overall.

Their first season under Quenneville was a twisting, turning, end-over-end journey through disappointments, rallies, peaks and valleys. They led the NHL in comeback victories of virtually every kind and amassed two seven-game win streaks. But they also went through a nine-game tailspin that threatened their aspirations and they later backed into the playoffs, retroceding first place in the division to Vegas and slipping behind Edmonton.

Vegas scored 62 seconds after the opening draw before completing its collection with a short-handed goal at 8:30 and a power-play marker at 17:19.

The Ducks gave up the game’s first goal on the first shot they faced yet again – they did so 14 times in 2025-26, including four immediate strikes in the playoffs – but they could hardly be blamed in this instance as Marner scored perhaps the postseason’s most spectacular goal to date.

Former Duck William Karlsson’s stretch pass from the left faceoff dot of the Vegas zone to the Ducks’ blue line sprang Marner for a partial breakaway. Jackson LaCombe hounded him from behind, even raising his stick between Marner’s legs at one point. That was exactly where he’d score from, faking a backhand at one post before putting the puck between his legs and past Dostál inside the other post for an awe-inspiring tally.

“I wanna see it again, I didn’t get a good look at it being behind the play, but from the glimpse I saw, it was just so sick,” Theodore said.

After being out-skated, out-battled and out-shot 5-1, the Ducks drew a penalty. Yet even that favored Vegas as a zone entry gone awry led to an errant rim-around pass that was picked off by none other than Marner. He and Howden were off on a two-on-two rush down a man, with Howden slipping Alex Killorn and LaCombe to reach to the back post for a one-timer.

Howden, who scored just 12 goals during the season, led the playoffs with eight at that point before being surpassed by Dorofeyev. Howden’s three shorthanded goals tied an NHL record for a single postseason and equaled his career total from 532 previous outings between the regular season and playoffs.

Theodore made it 3-0 when Tomáš Hertl’s offensive-zone faceoff win came to him. The one-time Ducks first-round draft pick whipped a shot through traffic from just above the slot. Vegas outscored the Ducks 12-2 in the series with Theodore on the ice, even more disparate than Marner’s 15-7 advantage.

“I know how ready everyone was, and it just felt like they were harder on pucks and we were kind of waiting to see how the game was going to go,” winger Troy Terry said. “We weren’t making good passes; the execution just seemed off.”

The second period saw a decidedly stronger push from the Ducks and they finally got on the board with 7:14 left. During a power play, Terry stickhandled through Marner and Theodore on the right wing to open up the left side for Granlund, whom he found with a deft dish. Granlund’s fifth goal of the playoffs, a shot from high in the circle, made it 3-1.

“We dominated the play for a little bit and had chances, we just couldn’t score [more],” LaCombe said.

That momentum was short-lived as Dorofeyev drove in the dagger 2:52 into the final frame.

Defenseman John Carlson made a weak play off his forehand along the left-wing wall that was devoured by Ivan Barbashev, who snuck the puck past Granlund to Dorofeyev for a goal from the slot.

Dorofeyev scored again, short side from a sharp angle, with 6:28 to play. He has nine goals this spring and five in his past three appearances.

The Ducks exceeded expectations overall, not only making the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons but prevailing in a series for the first time in nine. Meanwhile, Vegas shook off a campaign in which momentum was tough to come by, barreling hard into a postseason that will now pit them against the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals.

“They’re a good hockey team. So are we, and we know that now,” rookie winger Beckett Sennecke said. “That brings us with an expectation next year that we’ve got to come back, do the same thing and go further.”

He added: “Our core is super young, and the next few years will be exciting.”

It’s the fifth time in their nine seasons of existence that the Golden Knights have reached the conference finals, the same number of times that the Ducks have reached Round 3 in their 32-year history.