Viva Las Vegas, baby. The Ducks have made it to the second round, winning their first playoff series in nine years in their first playoff berth in eight years against the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers.
They find themselves against the Vegas Golden Knights, the first time that these two teams are facing each other in the playoffs. It’s the first time since the Golden Knights’ inaugural season that both teams are in the playoffs.
“They're a good hockey team,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said. “They’ve got balance, they skate, they're big, they go to the net, they defend pretty well, they play as a group of five in all zones, they seem to be connected. Not a lot of holes. I think that we’ve got to be at our best. We're gonna have to make sure that we start the series (hard). Every game's going to be important that we play consistently, we can't give up leads. When I say leads, we can't give up basically chasing a game—like we saw most of the year and in that last round as well—to have success. So, let's make sure our starts are going to be better.”
Feb 1, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) defends the goal as Vegas Golden Knights right wing Keegan Kolesar (55) screens him during the third period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images“Everybody’s really excited,” Mason McTavish said. “We’ve got a great Vegas team we’re gonna be playing, so I'm just excited for that challenge. They’ve got a lot of great players and so do we, so it should be a great series and we're looking forward to it.”
Troy Terry has regularly missed morning skates over the past month or so, but will play in Game 1, per Quenneville. Radko Gudas (lower-body) participated in Monday’s morning skate and could be an option going forward. He has not played since Game 1 of the Oilers series.
Former Duck William Karlsson will return to the lineup for the Golden Knights in Game 1. He had been out since November with a lower-body injury. His re-insertion into the lineup gives the Golden Knights four steady cogs down the middle in Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Karlsson and Nic Dowd.
Ducks Projected Lines
Chris Kreider - Leo Carlsson - Troy Terry
Alex Killorn - Mikael Granlund - Beckett Sennecke
Mason McTavish - Ryan Poehling - Cutter Gauthier
Jeff Viel - Tim Washe - Ian Moore
Jackson LaCombe - Jacob Trouba
Pavel Mintyukov - John Carlson
Tyson Hinds - Drew Helleson
Lukáš Dostál (confirmed)
Golden Knights Projected Lines
Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Pavel Dorofeyev
Brett Howden - Mitch Marner - Mark Stone
Tomáš Hertl - William Karlsson - Keegan Kolesar
Cole Smith - Nic Dowd - Colton Sissons
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Ben Hutton - Kaedan Korczak
Carter Hart (confirmed)