Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel, Mark Stone scout Ducks ahead of Round 2

The Vegas Golden Knights just finished beating a young, skilled and mostly inexperienced Utah Mammoth team in the first-round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs — and they’re gearing up for another one in Round 2.

The Knights will face the upstart Anaheim Ducks, who just finished upsetting the Edmonton Oilers in six, with Game 1 set for Monday night at T-Mobile Arena. The Ducks are fresh off winning their first playoff series since 2016-17.

“If you look at that Anaheim team, they make a lot of plays off the rush. So, you know, they’re a fast team,” Jack Eichel said ahead of the matchup, per NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika. “They’re always trying to make plays through you and around you. I think having played Utah, I think (having) improved throughout the series in terms of maybe some of our deep defensive responsibilities in that sense, we should be able to take from that a bit.”

“Yeah, they have some skill, some speed, some similarities to Utah, but I think they’re a little bit bigger, so that’s maybe a little different challenge for us,” captain Mark Stone echoed. “They’ve got some big skill up front that might pose a bit of a challenge, but they’re very good off the rush with that speed and skill, so that’s maybe a little similarity to Utah.

“It’s a new series. We’ve got to prep that way too.”

The Knights fell into a 2-1 hole against the Mammoth, but won back-to-back 5-4 overtime games before closing out Utah in convincing fashion, winning 5-1 in Game 6.

The Ducks opened up a 3-1 series lead on the Oilers after winning both games at the Honda Center. Following a Game 5 defeat in Edmonton, Anaheim closed the series with a 5-2 triumph over the back-to-back defending Western Conference champions at home.

Now, the focus shifts to the all-Pacific Division battle; it’s the first-ever postseason matchup between the Golden Knights and Ducks. Vegas are the favorites considering their playoff pedigree — they won a Stanley Cup championship with a very similar core in 2023 — although Anaheim was 3-0-0 against them in the 2025-26 regular season.

Puck is set to drop on the Western Conference semifinal series just past 9:30 p.m. ET from downtown Las Vegas on Monday.

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