The Vegas Golden Knights will play the Edmonton Oilers or Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Second Round.
The Golden Knights advanced by defeating the host Minnesota Wild 3-2 in Game 6 of the first round on Thursday.
The Golden Knights, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series against the Kings, the No. 2 seed from the Pacific, or the Oilers, the No. 3 seed. Edmonton leads that series 3-2, with Game 6 later Thursday.
Jack Eichel (one goal, four assists) and Tomas Hertl (three goals, two assists) led the Golden Knights in the first round with five points each. Mark Stone and Shea Theodore each had two goals and two assists, and Brett Howden scored three goals.
Adin Hill was 4-2 with a 2.83 goals-against average and .880 save percentage in six games, and Akira Schmid made nine saves in his lone appearance, in relief.
The Golden Knights went 2-2-0 against the Oilers this season. Ivan Barbashev had five points (two goals, three assists), and Noah Hanifin (two goals, two assists) and Eichel (one goal, three assists) each had four points. Hill started each of the four games and was 2-2-0 with a 2.82 GAA, .901 save percentage and one shutout.
Leon Draisaitl led the Oilers against the Golden Knights with four points (two goals, two assists), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor Brown each had a goal and two assists, and Darnell Nurse had three assists. Zach Hyman scored two goals, and Connor McDavid had one assist. Stuart Skinner was 1-2-0 with a 2.38 GAA and .924 save percentage in three games, and Calvin Pickard made 20 saves in his only appearance, starting in a 3-2 win on April 1.
Vegas and Edmonton have played once in the playoffs, with the Golden Knights winning in six games in the second round in 2023.
The Golden Knights were 1-3-0 against the Kings during the regular season. Hertl had nine points (five goals, four assists), Stone had seven points (two goals, five assists) and Pavel Dorofeyev had five points (three goals, two assists). Hill was 0-1-0 with a 6.30 GAA and .829 save percentage, allowing six goals on 35 shots in a 6-5 loss on March 9. Ilya Samsonov was 1-2-0 with a 4.01 GAA and .852 save percentage in three games.
Warren Foegele (four goals, two assists), Adrian Kempe (two goals, four assists) and Quinton Byfield (one goal, five assists) led the Kings against the Golden Knights during the regular season with six points each. Anze Kopitar, Joel Edmundson and Kevin Fiala each had five points (two goals, three assists).
Darcy Kuemper was 2-0-0 with a 2.50 GAA and .898 save percentage in two games, and David Rittich was 1-1-0 with a 5.51 GAA and .823 save percentage in two games.
The Golden Knights and Kings have played each other once in the postseason; Vegas swept Los Angeles in its first-ever playoff series, in the first round in 2018.
The Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup in 2023 but lost in the first round last season, have advanced to the second round five times in their eight NHL seasons.