The Anaheim Ducks made a statement in Game 4, proving they are not ready to let their playoff run fade quietly. With four different goal scorers and a wire-to-wire lead, they defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 at Honda Center on Sunday, tying the second-round series at 2-2. Game 5 is set for Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“It’s a great rebound, a good resilient game,” said Ducks forward Alex Killorn. “I think there was a lot more urgency tonight. And it’s kind of the way the playoffs go. You don’t ever want to lose two in a row at home. You don’t want to go down 3-1 in a series. So, it’s huge win. Made some adjustments. That’s just what playoffs is. They had a great game last game. We had a good game tonight. And we expect it to be a really good series going forward.”
Anaheim struck first for only the third time in 10 playoff games this postseason. Calder Trophy finalist Beckett Sennecke, who posted 23 goals and 60 points in his rookie season, opened the scoring at 8:43 of the first period on a power play. Vegas responded quickly when Pavel Dorofeyev buried a rebound to tie it 1-1 less than two minutes later.
The Ducks reclaimed the lead late in the first period. Mikael Granlund converted a setup from Jeffrey Viel, with a deflection off Golden Knights forward Cole Smith that fooled goalie Carter Hart. Vegas tied it again early in the second period when William Karlsson absorbed a hit to feed Brett Howden, who scored his team-leading seventh goal of the playoffs—tying Minnesota’s Matt Boldy and Carolina’s Logan Stankoven for the postseason lead.
From there, Anaheim took control. Alex Killorn scored the Ducks’ second power-play goal late in the second period to make it 3-2. After killing off a penalty to open the third, Ian Moore pushed the lead to 4-2 with a shot from the point that slipped between Hart’s blocker and right pad. Tomas Hertl added a late goal for Vegas, but it wasn’t enough.
**Animosity ratcheted up**
After a relatively calm first three games, tensions boiled over Sunday night. With so much at stake, post-whistle scrums and rough play increased noticeably. In the first period, Vegas’ Dylan Coghlan and Anaheim’s Ross Johnston were both called for interference. Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb went to the box for cross-checking Cutter Gauthier head-first into the boards. Sennecke was also penalized for cross-checking Nic Dowd just as the second period expired.
This is the first playoff series between these two teams, and the temperature is rising.
“I think it probably will as the series goes on,” McNabb said. “That’s usually how that goes. They came out desperate, and I thought we played a decent game. We had some good looks and didn’t cash in, so we move on.”
**Ducks’ power play awakens**
The Golden Knights did not back down from their physical style, which was especially effective in Game 3. This time, the Ducks made them pay. Vegas entered Game 4 with a stifling penalty kill, having erased 26 of 27 short-handed situations—including all 11 of Anaheim’s power plays in the series. But the Ducks broke through with a power-play goal in each of the first two periods, shifting momentum and evening the series heading back to Las Vegas.