Ducks' Storybook Season Comes To An End With Game 6 Loss To Golden Knights

The carriage has turned backmost into a pumpkin, nan ballgown is erstwhile again conscionable tattered clothing and each nan horses person each gone backmost to being mice.

The Ducks’ Cinderella tally done nan NHL playoffs came to an extremity Thursday successful a 5-1 nonaccomplishment to nan Vegas Golden Knights successful Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series. And nan extremity came good earlier midnight, pinch goals by Mitch Marner and Brett Howden successful nan first 8 ½ minutes giving Vegas a commanding lead earlier galore successful nan late-arriving weeknight crowd had made it to their seats astatine nan Honda Center.

The Golden Knights will move connected to nan Western Conference finals pinch nan Colorado Avalanche adjacent week while the Ducks will move connected to summer. But it’s nan team’s latest commencement connected nan offseason since 2017, nan past clip nan Ducks made to nan 2nd information of nan playoffs. So moreover if nan solid slipper didn’t fresh this time, nan Ducks person logic to celebrate.

This team, aft all, wasn’t expected to beryllium astatine nan shot this long. Fourteen players connected its roster had ne'er been to nan postseason before; astir of them had ne'er moreover played for a winning squad successful nan NHL before. But nan team’s younker and inexperience proved to beryllium a strength, not a weakness.

Ducks halfway Leo Carlsson passes nan puck arsenic Vegas’ Shea Theodore defends during nan 2nd period.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

They didn’t cognize they weren’t expected to triumph successful nan playoffs, truthful they did, dispatching nan Edmonton Oilers — who made nan past 2 Stanley Cup finals — successful nan first information and outplaying nan seasoned Golden Knights, a playoff squad successful 8 of nan franchise’s 9 seasons, passim overmuch of nan 2nd round.

Rookie Beckett Sennecke, conscionable 20, had 4 goals and an assistance successful nan six games pinch Vegas. Winger Cutter Gauthier, conscionable 22, led nan squad pinch 12 points successful his first travel to nan playoffs. Defenseman Olen Zellwenger, besides 22, had a extremity and assistance successful his first 2 playoff games and Olympic golden medalist Jackson LaCombe, 25, led nan squad successful crystal clip — and was 3rd successful points pinch 10 —- successful his first postseason.

That’s nan halfway of nan squad going guardant and nan playoff acquisition they sewage this outpouring will beryllium invaluable. But nan fairy godmother’s spell wore disconnected early successful Game 6, which was conscionable 62 seconds aged erstwhile Vegas went up to stay.

Marner opened nan scoring pinch a spectacular breakaway goal, skating connected to William Karlssson’s two-line walk arsenic he entered nan violative area and beating LaCombe up nan halfway of nan crystal to nan crease. When he sewage there, he pulled up, turned his backmost to goalie Lukas Dostal, past shoved nan puck conscionable wrong nan correct station for his seventh extremity of nan playoffs.

Howden doubled nan lead pinch a shorthanded extremity 7 ½ minutes later, uncovering miles of abstraction conscionable to nan correct of nan extremity and banging successful a walk from Marner that divided LaCombe and Alex Killorn. The extremity was Howden’s eighth of nan playoffs, temporarily giving him nan NHL postseason lead, while nan assistance gave Marner 18 postseason points, besides champion successful nan league.

When Shea Theodore scored disconnected a faceoff seconds into a powerfulness play precocious successful nan period, it gave nan Golden Knights a 3-0 lead astatine nan intermission pinch nan goals coming connected a powerfulness play, nan punishment termination and pinch nan teams astatine moreover strength.

Ducks near helping Alex Killorn moves nan puck up of Vegas correct helping Keegan Kolesar successful nan first period.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The Ducks led nan NHL pinch 26 comeback wins during nan regular play but against nan poised and diligent Golden Knights, nan shortage was excessively big. The Ducks near nan crystal aft to a chorus of boos aft nan play though they came backmost to predominate nan 2nd period, getting nan only people astatine 12:46 erstwhile Mikael Granlund notched his 5th extremity of nan playoffs connected a powerfulness play, lining a threat changeable into nan broadside netting from nan mediate nan near circle.

But nan Ducks would get nary closer, pinch Vegas icing nan crippled connected 2 third-period goals from Pavel Dorofeyev, who had 4 goals successful nan last 2 games. The first came disconnected a turnover from nan Ducks’ John Carlson heavy successful his protect extremity 2:52 into nan last play and nan 2nd connected a changeable from a difficult perspective to nan correct of nan extremity that ricocheted successful disconnected Dostal pinch 6:28 near successful nan Ducks’ season.

The 2 scores gave Dorofeyev 9 for nan playoffs, passing Howden for nan convention lead.