Marner delivers again as Golden Knights finish off Ducks in 6 - ESPN

The Vegas Golden Knights are back in the Western Conference finals, and they have Mitch Marner to thank for it.

Marner, 29, had a goal and an assist to help Vegas eliminate the Anaheim Ducks with a 5-1 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night. After nine postseasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs in which he was labeled a playoff disappointment, Marner leads the Stanley Cup playoffs in scoring with 18 points in 12 games.

The Golden Knights move on to face the Colorado Avalanche in what will be Marner's first trip to the conference finals.

«Nothing in this sport can really be [about] one man,» said Marner, who has scored more goals (seven) in this postseason than he scored in his past three postseasons with Toronto (six). «It feels great to be going onto the next round with this team. The work now really just keeps getting harder, and we're excited for it.»

A few weeks before the regular season ended, it was unclear if the Golden Knights would even make the playoffs, let alone advance to the conference finals.

On March 29, they were 3-5-2 in their past 10 games and had the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken chasing them for a playoff berth. That's when Vegas fired head coach Bruce Cassidy, who led them to the Stanley Cup in 2023, and hired coach John Tortorella with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Marner said Tortorella's arrival gave the Golden Knights their «swagger» back at the most important time.

«I think we were maybe doubting ourselves about what we were doing out there,» he said. «Sometimes that happens. And Torts came in and brought our swagger back to where it needed to be and playing the way that we wanted to play.»

Tortorella went 7-0-1 to end the regular season. The Knights eliminated the Utah Mammoth