NHL: Lukas Dostal, Ducks shut down Knights, head home with series 1-1

Lukas Dostal stopped 21 shots as the Anaheim Ducks earned a 3-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, tying their best-of-seven Western Conference second-round playoff series at one game apiece.

Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson and Jansen Harkins scored for Anaheim, which bounced back after dropping Game 1 and now heads home with momentum for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.

Mark Stone scored a late power-play goal for Vegas, while Carter Hart made 25 saves in the losing effort. The Golden Knights suffered a rare home regulation loss to the Ducks, just their fourth in franchise history (16-4-1).

Vegas killed off eight minutes of penalties in the first period, including a lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantage after Jack Eichel received a four-minute double minor for high-sticking Mikael Granlund. Despite that strong penalty kill, the Ducks struggled again on the power play, going 0-for-9 in the series after scoring efficiently in the first round against the Edmonton Oilers.

“I thought the guys played terrific,” Dostal said. “They were battling out there. Sometimes we were all swimming in the crease, just lying out there. I was playing more soccer goalie than hockey goalie out there. But they didn’t go in, and my teammates did a helluva job.”

Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville praised his team’s defensive effort. “I thought defensively we played one of our better games all year. We had good puck pursuit. We had some good shifts in the second period with possession. A lot of positives out there.”

The Ducks broke through midway in the second period when Sennecke scored his second goal of the playoffs. Jeffrey Viel forced a turnover behind the net and set up Sennecke in the low slot, where the rookie forward chipped the puck past Hart’s glove side.

Anaheim extended its lead to 2-0 at 6:36 of the third period on Carlsson’s fourth goal of the postseason. Troy Terry delivered a cross-ice pass to set up Carlsson alone at the back post, where he lifted a wrist shot past Hart.

With Hart pulled for an extra attacker late in the game, Harkins sealed the win with an empty-net goal 30 seconds later—his first since New Year’s Eve.

Vegas avoided the shutout with just 5.6 seconds remaining when Stone redirected an Eichel shot for a power-play goal.

“Give their goalie credit,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “He made a lot of good saves in the third period.”

Looking ahead, Tortorella emphasized adjustments for the next games. “Win or lose, coaches are always looking to build on the good things and fix the bad things. We’ve got some things to work on.” -Field Level Media/Reuters