The Anaheim Ducks and the Vegas Golden Knights entered the Second Round as two of the top teams in the league when it comes to goals per game. The Ducks were second in the league with an average of 4.33 goals per game; the Golden Knights were fourth with 3.83. And yet, in a series promising offense, this was a 1-0 game with eight minutes remaining in the third period.
That’s hockey.
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The Ducks came out flying and dominated the first period; they held a 7-1 shot advantage at the first TV timeout. They continued taking it to the Golden Knights throughout the first period, but entered the first intermission tied 0-0 thanks to some near misses and remarkable stops by Carter Hart.
The second period followed the same script: the Ducks were the better team, holding the edge in shots and generating more scoring chances. However, they couldn’t finish their chances, and the Golden Knights eventually took advantage of that.
Despite Anaheim’s domination, the Golden Knights broke the ice first, beating Lukáš Dostál 3:14 into the second period. Rasmus Andersson flew up ice in transition and dropped an entry pass for Mitch Marner, who drifted deeper into the zone and found Brett Howden back-door.
In the third, the song remained the same. The Ducks generated scoring chances seemingly at will, and held a 13-8 edge in shots.
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The Ducks finally solved Carter Hart and found the equalizer at 13:57 in the third. Jackson LaCombe blew past Cole Smith, drove the net, and pinballed a pass through a sea of bodies to Mikael Granlund at the right dot. Granlund had an empty net to shoot at, and he didn’t miss.
Just over a minute later, the Golden Knights regained the lead after the officials waved off an icing call. Pavel Dorofeyev blew past Leo Carlsson, protected the puck from Jackson LaCombe, and found Ivan Barbashev back-door for an easy tap-in.
Down by a goal once again, the Ducks pulled Lukáš Dostál for the extra attacker with just under two minutes remaining in regulation. They managed just three shots on goal, and Mitch Marner iced the game with a high-flipper.
“I don’t think anyone in that locker room is very satisfied with that win,” said Marner following the 3-1 victory. “We know we can play a lot better. I don’t think we got to our game at all… We know we’ve got to be better.”
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1. The officials made themselves the story with the controversial no-call on Ivan Barbashev’s game-winning goal. Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe won the race to the puck, but the officials waved off icing; seconds later, the Golden Knights scored. Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville was irate behind the bench, and he didn’t change his tune during his postgame media availability.
“Clearly, I disagreed with the call. Clearly, it was icing,” Quenneville said. “Their guy stopped skating… We’d just scored. It was a huge call, and it was an easy call.”
Following the game, the officials declined to speak with the pool reporter or make a statement about the non-call.
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2. The Golden Knights, who only allowed one goal when down a man in the First Round, continue to ice a dominant penalty kill. In the First Round, the Ducks converted on 50% of their power play opportunities. Tonight, they went 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
“I think our penalty kill has been really consistent,” said Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella postgame. “I think they feel confident. The biggest thing with our penalty kill starting to take off a little bit is going together. If we’re going to be aggressive, we’re moving in all together, and all four guys are aggressive. If we have to sit tight and hold on, we do that, blocking shots at key times.
“A really important part of the game tonight, as far as them doing their work,” Tortorella finished.
3. The Golden Knights were the second-best team on the ice and should not have won this game tonight. However, their goaltender bailed them out; Carter Hart finished the game with a .971 SV% and a 2.08 GSAx.
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“He was our best player tonight,” said Tortorella postgame. “We struggled to find our game… But Carter, he was outstanding.”
“Phenomenal game by him,” agreed forward Brett Howden. “Early on, especially, we didn’t have our best, and he really kept us in it. He gave us a really good chance, and continued that throughout the whole game. He played a great game.”
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