LAS VEGAS — Before the Ducks had even checked out of their hotel Wednesday for the short bus ride to T-Mobile Arena for Game 2 of their Stanley Cup playoff series, the Las Vegas sports books had made the hometown Golden Knights heavy favorites.
That proved to be a poor bet a couple of hours later when the Ducks rolled to a 3-1 victory, evening the best-of-seven playoff series at 1-1. The second-round series resumes Friday at Honda Center.
The Ducks’ goals came from Beckett Sennecke in the second period and Leo Carlsson and Jansen Harkins in the third. Harkins’ goal, into an empty net, was the exclamation point on the win. Jack Eichel scored Vegas’ only goal on a power play in the final seconds, denying goaltender Lukas Dostal and the Ducks their first shutout of the season.
And it’s not the first time the Ducks have defied the odds this postseason. After losing the opener of their first-round series to favored Edmonton, the Ducks won four of the next five.
This one shouldn’t have been that close. The younger, faster Ducks dominated the plodding Golden Knights for most of the game, but Vegas stifled the Ducks’ power play, which kept it in the game.
The Golden Knights, who killed four penalties in Game 1, saw three players go to the box in the first 5½ minutes, giving the Ducks a man advantage for eight consecutive minutes. For one minutes and 41 seconds, Vegas was down two players.
Yet the Ducks couldn’t score.
The Ducks were shut out on another power play in the second period, extending to 19 the number of consecutive penalties the Golden Knights have killed in the playoffs. They’ve allowed just one power-play goal in 25 tries in the postseason.
Which isn’t to say the Ducks weren’t dangerous through the first period and a half, they were. But goaltender Carter Hart was stellar, turning away 17 shots before Sennecke got one past at 11:23 of the second. Jeffrey Viel sent up the goal, with his pass from behind the goal line finding Sennecke for a quick wrist shot from the top of the crease.
Carlsson, left all alone on the right side, doubled the advantage with his fourth goal of the playoffs at 13:24 of the third period, redirecting in a backhand pass from Troy Terry.
Defensive games haven’t been the Ducks’ strength this season — they gave up more than 3.5 goals a game during the regular season, more than any other playoff team — but they have smothered the Golden Knights. They gave up just 23 shots in Game 2.
Vegas was also plagued by poor passing and puck handling while the Ducks defenders did a good job of keeping the crease clear.
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