Following a topsy-turvy season that saw them fire their head coach with just eight games left in the regular-season, the Vegas Golden Knights appear to be peaking at just the right time.

The Golden Knights (39-26-17, 95 points) sprinted to a 10-game point streak down the stretch to claim their fifth Pacific Division title in nine seasons and will host the Utah Mammoth in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Vegas didn’t clinch the Pacific Division until it defeated Seattle, 4-1, in its regular-season finale. The Golden Knights, who won the 2023 Stanley Cup under Bruce Cassidy, captured 15 of a possible 16 points (7-0-1) down the stretch under the guidance of John Tortorella, who replaced Cassidy as head coach on March 29.

Before the coaching change, Vegas had won just five times (5-10-2) since the Olympic break and saw a four-point first-place lead disappear, falling to just four points above the Western Conference playoff bubble.

“Kind of a weird year for sure, especially in the Pacific,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “A lot of ups and downs. We were on top there for a while, and then we were in third flirting with the wild card. And then we found our game at the right time and were able to win the division. That’s what we wanted to do and we did it.”

Barely. Edmonton, which finished in second place with 93 points, lost four of its last six games (2-2-2), including a 5-1 home loss to the Golden Knights, while Anaheim, which finished third three points behind Vegas with 92 points, lost eight of its final 10 games (2-6-2).

Tortorella, who guided Tampa Bay to the 2004 Stanley Cup title, is credited with rebuilding confidence in a more relaxed locker room that appeared to have tuned out Cassidy.

“All I know is that since I’ve been here, they have played at a level and played as a team, consistently,” Tortorella said.

Utah (43-33-6, 92 points) finished fourth in the rugged Central Division but captured the top Western Conference wild-card spot, the franchise’s first playoff berth since moving from Arizona to Salt Lake City two years ago. Prior to that, the then-Arizona Coyotes last made the playoffs in 2020, losing in five games in the first round to Colorado.

Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt was a member of the inaugural “Golden Misfits” Vegas team in 2017-18 that went all the way to the Stanley Cup final before losing in five games to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. He believes Utah, which won two of the three regular-season meetings with the Golden Knights, has the potential to do well in its first playoff series.

“I love the idea that our guys are quick, they’re fast, they’re in this time of year for the first time,” Schmidt said. “The youthfulness is going to be something I’m excited to see. When we put pressure on teams and continue to roll over them and roll onto them, get our puck in and kind of let our speed kind of dictate the pace and how we want to play, it makes it really hard to play against us.”

“We did our job getting there, and now it’s on to the next milestone here — getting some wins, getting some experience, and doing what we came here to do,” forward Michael Carcone said.

Tortorella said he’s excited to see how his new team responds to the challenge.

“It’s the most exciting time because everybody’s playing at a different level, and it’s a good test to see how high you can get as a team,” Tortorella said. “Everything is going to be amped up. As each game goes by in the series, it’s going to be harder and harder. So it’s a great challenge for the players.”

–Field Level Media

Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to start the decisive third-quarter run for the host New York Knicks, who pulled away for a 113-102 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Saturday night.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Monday night in New York.

Jalen Brunson scored 19 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter for the third-seeded Knicks, who reached the Eastern Conference finals last year for the first time since 2000. Towns finished with 25 points and was 10 of 10 from the free throw line while Anunoby collected 18 points.

Josh Hart (11 points, 14 rebounds) posted a double-double while Mikal Bridges added 11 points.

CJ McCollum scored 26 points for the Hawks, who earned the sixth seed in their first trip to the playoffs since 2023. Jalen Johnson had 23 points while Onyeka Okongwu (19) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17) each scored in double figures. Dyson Daniels had 11 rebounds.

The Hawks led by four in the first quarter but never led again after Anunoby’s free throw put the Knicks ahead 24-23 with 2:29 left. New York matched its biggest lead of the quarter when Brunson ended the period with a floater to put the hosts up 30-24.

The Knicks opened a trio of 11-point leads in the second before the Hawks mounted a 19-8 run to tie the score at 48-all on McCollum’s floater with 3:43 left. Anunoby answered with a dunk for New York, which ended the half with a 57-55 lead.

Okongwu hit a 3-pointer 1:48 into the third to tie the score for the final time at 58-all before Towns and Anunoby drained their 3-pointers to spark a decisive 15-5 run that ended with a Bridges dunk with 5:31 left. The Hawks got within five once before New York concluded the quarter ahead 83-74.

The Hawks inched no closer than seven in the fourth, when the Knicks went on a 10-0 run to expand their lead to 106-87 with 4:36 remaining. Atlanta scored the next 11 points, but the teams traded empty possessions before Towns’ layup gave New York a double-digit lead again with 48 seconds left.

–Field Level Media

Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant was ruled out for the playoff series opener against the host Los Angeles Lakers because of a right knee injury, coach Ime Udoka said before the game on Saturday.

“He bumped a knee in practice on Wednesday,” Udoka said. “Hopefully, it’s a one-game thing, but he tried it out just (a) short (time) ago and didn’t feel good enough.”

At age 37 and in his 19th season, Durant averaged a team-high 26.0 points as well as 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Perhaps most impressive of all was his 78 regular-season games played, his most since 2018-19.

The teams play Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round, best-of-seven series in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Rockets started forward Jabari Smith Jr., center Alperen Sengun and guards Josh Okogie, Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard in Game 1. When Durant last started a game on April 10 against Minnesota, Sheppard came in off the bench.

Udoka said that no structural damage was revealed in medical imaging on Durant’s knee after he was hurt.

“It’s very tender, tough to bend certain ways,” Udoka said of Durant’s knee. “He hit it in a very awkward spot, I guess, more than anything. If he had a regular bumped knee, I think he could kind of play through that. But right above the knee, the patellar tendon area, up there, it’s just very tender and sore.

“Pain tolerance is one thing, but actually limited movement is more the cause (of Durant being out).”

Durant is a 16-time All-Star, the 2013-14 NBA Most Valuable Player, the 2007-08 Rookie of the Year and a six-time first-team All-NBA selection with two league championships (Golden State in 2017 and 2018) to his credit.

He has career averages of 27.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.1 blocks and 36.7 minutes in 1,201 regular-season games (1,198 starts).

–Field Level Media