There are a lot of similarities between the Anaheim Ducks and Utah Mammoth that the Vegas Golden Knights will be well-versed in.
Speed, youth, skating ability, etc. The Knights went through all of that with the Mammoth before eliminating them in six games to set up their first postseason meeting with the Ducks.
But one area Anaheim excels at better than Utah is creating action near the blue paint. The Knights are going to have to be wary of that.
Will have more on this later, but key to the series for the Golden Knights and Ducks?
Look where they scored most of their goals. pic.twitter.com/ItwXhy2S7h
— Danny Webster (@DannyWebster21) May 3, 2026
The Ducks have a number of players who battle for position well near the goalie’s crease. Wingers Chris Kreider and Alex Killorn, and center Ryan Poehling, all can cause havoc for opposing goalies.
“They have a couple guys in the organization that have made their careers on scoring within five to 10 feet of that goal,” center Nic Dowd said. “Our D and our low forward are going to have to do a better job this series of boxing out and let (goaltender) Carter (Hart) see the puck as well as he can.”
Anaheim scored 26 goals in their six-game upset victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Ten of them came from the crease to the top of the faceoff circles.
“I think that’s going to be a big part of this series,” winger Brett Howden said. “I really liked how we played against Utah and just the style we played, being hard. I think we did a really good job around the net front.”
The Mammoth had to rely on their skill and playmaking to score the 18 goals they had through six games.
Only five of those goals, however, were close to the crease.
Anaheim is going to have center Leo Carlsson and winger Cutter Gauthier creating plays with their skill. In the half-court game, the Ducks will not hesitate to throw pucks at the net.
“That’s playoff hockey in general. You want to get bodies there. You want to get pucks there and kind of get some greasy goals,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “It’s going to be a tough test. I think watching how well they played against Edmonton, it’s going to be something different, I think.”
The Knights showed against Utah they can play that way if they need to.
Of their 23 goals they scored against the Mammoth, 14 of them came inside the hashmarks. Five of them were either directly near the crease or slightly outside.
Those kinds of goals were hard to come by last postseason. They’ll need to be there against Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal, one of the best young netminders in the league during the regular season.
Dowd’s line with wingers Colton Sissons and Cole Smith combined for six goals in the first round. All of them were either tipped or came via rebounds or loose pucks.
“It’ll be our goal, too, to win those down-low battles at both ends of the ice,” Dowd said. “You look at the goals we scored last series, how critical it is to get to the top of that crease.”
Goaltending will be crucial on both ends. Dostal, 25, had an .874 save percentage and 3.87 goals-against average. He had the benefit of facing an Edmonton tandem that was a problem for the Oilers all season.
Hart rebounded after giving up four goals on 12 shots in Game 3 to giving up nine in the final three games against Utah, posting a .902 save percentage and 2.42 GAA.
“You look at the way we score, that’s how we scored a lot of our goals in that first series,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “It’s definitely a priority for us. They got some guys that are good around there. I think for us, just making it hard for their goalie to get in front of his eyes, and making it hard for their D, too. It’s going to be a big part of the series.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
