Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks Tied At 1 In a Balanced Playoff Series
The Vegas Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks are all tied up in Round 2 of the Western Conference, going into Game 3. The Ducks won Round 1 over the Edmonton Oilers in 6 games, marking the first time since 2017 that Anaheim has advanced past the first round of the playoffs. Evening things up, the Golden Knights also took 6 games to knock out the Utah Mammoth.
Golden Knights Take Game 1
Strong goaltending and solid offense took Vegas to a 3-1 win on May 4. Neither team scored in the first period despite some good looks. Brett Howden scored his fifth goal of the series in the second period to put Vegas up 1-0.
It took a while after that for anyone to score, but it made for an exciting last few minutes of the game. Mikeal Granlund tied the game for the Ducks, but that was short-lived as Ivan Barbashev and Mitch Marner scored in short order to give the Golden Knights a 3-1 win.
Goalie Carter Hart saved 33 shots for the winning team, while Lukas Dostal made 19 saves. Vegas wasn’t thrilled with the way they played, however. “I don’t think anyone in that locker room is satisfied with that win,” Marner said. “We know we can play a lot better. I don’t think we got to our game at all. We gave them some good looks, and Carter made some massive saves.”
Ducks Take Game 2, Nearly Notch a Shutout
Game 2 wasn’t much better of a performance for the Golden Knights, but they did get a goal in the last 6 seconds from Mark Stone to lose 3-1 in the end. As with Game 1, there were no goals in the first period. Beckett Sennecke scored in the second period, while Leo Carlsson and Jansen Harkins scored in the third period to give the Ducks a virtually unbreachable 3-0 lead.
Stone’s goal came with just seconds left in the game, giving the Golden Knights something to celebrate. Dostal made 21 saves, while Hart saved 25 shots. In a flip of Game 1, Vegas outshot Anaheim.
The Golden Knights chose to take a positive outlook from the game. “We’re two games removed from probably the best game we’ve played,” Stone said. “It hasn’t been our best the last two, but the good news is we can improve. It’s not like we’ve played our best hockey. We’re 1-1, so we have to figure it out.”
Something that the Ducks really need to improve upon against the Golden Knights is their power play, as they were 0-for-5 in Game 2 and 0-for-9 overall.
“That’s not our tradition playing that type of game, a low-scoring affair,” Ducks Head Coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ve had some stretches show now over the course of the season, particularly late; this is the only way you’re going to be successful in the playoffs. You got to win games like tonight. I think that we showed that it’s going to take everybody to play that type of game.”
Game 3 Preview
With the series tied, there is room for improvement for both teams. The Ducks haven’t been able to score on a power play or score highly against the tough Golden Knights defensive line. They will have to find a way to break through that if they want to win the series.
The Golden Knights, on the other hand, have been inconsistent on scoring, and also haven’t scored on power plays. They were great in Game 6 against the Mammoth, but have not quite been able to regain that form. The Ducks are strong on defense, but in Game 1, the Golden Knights scored 2 more goals than their opponents with fewer shots.
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