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For the first time in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Anaheim Ducks face elimination as they host the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinal on Thursday night. It's a 9:30 ET puck drop, with a potential Game 7 back in Las Vegas on Saturday. The Colorado Avalanche await the winner.

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This has been a very entertaining, back-and-forth series, with neither team winning consecutive games in it following the Golden Knights' 3-2 overtime victory in Las Vegas on Tuesday, for a 3-2 series lead. It was the first OT game of the set. Pavel Dorofeyev was the easy No. 1 star with the Knights' first goal of the game and the winner at 4:10 of OT.  He leads the club with seven goals in these playoffs after also being tops in the regular season with 37.

Jack Eichel had two assists, including on the winner, and leads the NHL with 14 assists as well as six assists on tying goals this postseason. His 11 assists on game-tying goals since his postseason debut in 2023 are one back of Connor McDavid for the most among all players during the span.

Eichel's career mark of 0.92 assists per playoff game (in 51 games) is fourth-best in history with a minimum of 15 games played. Tonight, he can become the first player in franchise history and sixth American in league history to have three straight multi-assist games in the playoffs. Eichel is +300 for at least two.

It was Vegas' 27th one-goal victory in a playoff game since its inaugural season in 2017-18, the second-most such wins in the league. And the Knights won their third consecutive OT game of this postseason (following Games 4 & 5 in Round 1 vs. Utah) to tie the longest such streak in team history. They outshot the Ducks 5-0 in OT.

Vegas is 5-0 in franchise history previously when taking Game 5 of a 2-2 series and closed out each in Game 6 – including Round 1 vs. the Mammoth. Vegas owns an all-time record of 6-3, including 5-2 away, in Game 6 when leading a series 3-2.

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The Golden Knights played a second game in a row Tuesday without forward and team captain Mark Stone due to an undisclosed injury. When someone like that misses a playoff game, you know it's nothing minor. Stone remains day-to-day. Meanwhile, first-pair blueliner Brayden McNabb delivered a suspension-worthy check into the boards of Anaheim center Ryan Poehling in the first period of Game 5.

Poehling, a third-liner and excellent on the penalty kill, was helped off the ice and didn't return; McNabb received a five-minute major for interference and game misconduct. Poehling entered with four goals and an assist in 10 playoff games, while McNabb has three points and is plus-5. Poehling is out at least tonight.

The Knights were hoping that McNabb missed most of Game 5 would be taken into account regarding a possible suspension, but he is out Game 6. It's the first suspension of McNabb's 14-year career. He averages almost 21 minutes per game in the postseason, is huge on the penalty kill and leads Vegas defenders in hits through the playoffs with 23. Ben Hutton and Dylan Coghlan saw more minutes with him missing most of Game 5. The Golden Knights are 13-11 all-time in potential series-clinching games during a best-of-seven series, and 7-7 away.

Beckett Sennecke scored for Anaheim on that ensuing power play and became only the fourth rookie over the past 25 years league-wide to record a four-game goal streak in the playoffs and first since Toronto's Auston Matthews in 2017.

Sennecke's five total goals in the playoffs have tied Bobby Ryan (2009) for the most by a Ducks rookie in a single postseason. Sennecke tries to become only the third rookie in NHL history to record a five-game goal streak in the playoffs and is +245 to do so.

Needless to say, tonight would be Anaheim's final home game of the season with a loss. But the franchise is 7-0 all-time in Game 6s at home, compared to 2-8 away. The Ducks are 9-13 when facing elimination during a best-of-seven and 6-7 at home.

"I'm pretty excited to see what we all got," Ducks forward Mason McTavish said. "I know it's our first time with our backs against the wall, and I'm excited for us to kind of show everybody what we got. I expect a lot of confidence, and it'll be a great game. I think everybody's pretty excited in here to show them what we've got."

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After a mini-slump, we hit the other West SGP on Wednesday night with Colorado rallying to beat Minnesota and advance. You obviously could just play Ducks money line solo, but it would be nice to have that alt U7.5 leg already won if overtime starts at 3-3. Check out other expert picks in the SportsLine daily newsletter.