ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Vegas Golden Knights steamrolled the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 on Thursday night, silencing the crowd early and cruising to a 5-1 win to finish the second-round series and move on to another Western Conference final.It’s the fifth time in nine years of existence that Vegas has been among the final four teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That leads all teams since 2017, as do the Golden Knights’ 70 playoff wins and 14 series victories. Next up: the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche, with Game 1 on Wednesday in Denver.Watching Vegas roll on Thursday, as it has over much of its first nine seasons, it’s easy to forget how fragile things were for the Golden Knights just six weeks ago.On March 30, the Golden Knights had lost 12 of their previous 16 games. They had fallen to third place in the lowly Pacific Division, only four points above the playoff cutline, and decided to fire Bruce Cassidy, their Stanley Cup-winning coach.In came John Tortorella, the confidence whisperer.“I think we were maybe doubting ourselves, and what we were trying to do out there,” Mitch Marner said Thursday. “Sometimes that happens, and Torts came in and brought our swagger back to where it needed to be.”The Golden Knights looked unsure of themselves, constantly playing on their heels, and chasing games because of it.Since the coaching change, they’ve won 15 of 20 games and two playoff series. They leaned on the Utah Mammoth in the first round, eventually wore them down and slammed the door in Game 6. In the second round, against an even more talented Ducks team, it was the same result.“I always talk about how the season is really a roller-coaster ride,” Marner said. “There are going to be really high ups, and some possibly down bads. That’s how the season goes. You have to stay strong and stay with each other, and I think that we did a really good job of that throughout the tough moments of this season.”