Ducks beat Golden Knights 3-1 and
send series back to Anaheim at 1-1
[May 07, 2026]
By MARK ANDERSON
LAS VEGAS (AP) Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson and Jansen Harkins
scored, Lukas Dostal came 5.6 seconds from his first career playoff
shutout and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 on
Wednesday night to even their series at a game apiece.
The Ducks head home with the chance to grab hold of the
best-of-seven second-round NHL playoff series, with Game 3 on Friday
night. Vegas hopes to pull off a repeat of its first-round series
when the Golden Knights went to Utah at 1-1 before winning in six
games.
That's not our tradition of playing that type of game, a
low-scoring affair, Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. I think
we've had some stretches over the course of the season, particularly
late. This is the only way you're going to be successful in playoffs
is you've got to win games like tonight. It's going to take
everybody to play these types of games, and I thought everybody
contributed.
Sennecke, a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy that goes to the
league's top rookie, became the fourth Ducks player 20 or younger to
score multiple goals in a postseason.
Dostal saved 21 shots and nearly had his third career shutout,
including regular-season play, before Mark Stone scored a power-play
goal in the closing seconds.
I always say it doesn't matter how you win or what the score is,"
Dostal said. "(A shutout) obviously is the cherry on the top. It
doesn't really matter. We got a W and that's all we really focus
on."
Carter Hart made 25 saves for the Golden Knights. Brett Howden's
four-game goal streak ended, as did Ivan Barbarshev's seven-game
point streak.
The Golden Knights' penalty kill gave them a chance. They killed all
five penalties, including a stretch of 6:19 in the first period in
which the Golden Knights took four penalties, including a double
minor by Jack Eichel for high sticking. Vegas has killed off 19
straight penalties this postseason and is 24 of 25 overall.
Though Golden Knights coach John Tortorella had no complaints about
the PK, he wasn't thrilled to begin the game with so many trips to
the penalty box.
[to top of second column] |
Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) celebrates after the
Anaheim Ducks defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of a
second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Wednesday, May 6,
2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
It screws us up, Tortorella said. We wanted to
try to get a good start and we're sitting in the box. I think that
affects things as you're trying to get through that first period,
but the penalty kill has been fantastic and that was a key part of
the game. We just couldn't make it stand.
But offense again was at a premium for Vegas, and
Tortorella adjusted his lines to try to find some life. Stone moved
to the top line, William Karlsson shifted to the second and Pavel
Dorofeyev dropped to the third.
Quenneville found some magic by moving Cutter Gauthier up to the
second line with Mikael Granlund and Alex Killorn. That group had 20
scoring chances to one for Vegas after two periods, according to
Natural Stat Trick. They finished with a 23-5 advantage.
Quenneville also took forward Mason McTavish, who had a goal and
three assists in the six-game first-round victory over Edmonton, out
of the lineup. He failed to score on two shots in the opener of this
series.
The Ducks broke through in the second period, controlling play for
about six minutes as Vegas struggled to keep the puck out of its
zone. Then finally it was too much, Jeffrey Viel passing from below
the goal line to Sennecke, camped out in front of the net for the
1-0 lead with 8:37 left in the period.
Troy Terry's backhand pass to Carlsson at 6:36 of the third period
made it 2-0 for the Ducks. Harkins added an empty-net goal with 3:30
remaining.
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