ANAHEIM — The Ducks held their own against one of the NHL’s top teams but lacked finishing ability once more in a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night at Honda Center.
They fell to 0-2 against Vegas, whom they beat in three of four meetings last year, and have lost five of their past six games overall.
Brock McGinn and Frank Vatrano scored a goal apiece in support of Ducks goaltender Lukáš Dostál, who made 37 saves. Brett Leason assisted on both goals. Cam Fowler (upper body) and Robby Fabbri (lower body) were both placed on injured reserve, while Mason McTavish (upper body) also sat out but remained day-to-day.
Centers Nicolas Roy and Tomáš Hertl each snagged a goal for Vegas (10-4-2), as did winger Pavel Dorofeyev. Former Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore contributed two assists. Adin Hill came up with 22 saves.
As the game wore on, Killorn was unable to put a point-blank shot into an open net on goal, Leason was robbed on a sterling chance and a failed power play pushed the Ducks to 0 for 3 on the evening. Killorn assisted on Vatrano’s one-timer with 12.5 seconds to play after Leason’s silky move at the blue line drew a crowd of defenders, allowing him to slip the puck to Vatrano for a goal that saved the Ducks (5-8-2) from their sixth one-goal output in 15 games. Vatrano, who had 37 goals last year, has just two thus far.
Vegas extended its edge to 3-1 at the 4:29 mark of the third. Dorofeyev picked off a casual pass from below the Ducks’ goal line by Isac Lundeström, placing one shot on net and then scoring off a second for an unassisted goal that gave him 10 points in his last 10 games.
Though a pair of penalties were not called – what likely should have been a double-minor for the high-sticking that sent Jansen Harkins back to the dressing room and a slash that prevented a Ryan Strome putback late in the second period – the Ducks began the final frame on an unsuccessful power play.
Vegas out-shot the Ducks handily in the second period and had the middle frame’s only goal as well as a second-intermission lead to show for it.
Hertl and his unit needed just 15 seconds of power-play time as they won a faceoff, set up a Dorofeyev one-timer from the right circle. After Dostál beat back the initial shot and Hertl’s follow-up, Hertl moved the puck from low to high, where it moved across the top of the umbrella to set up a Jack Eichel heave on net. Hertl popped in the rebound for a go-ahead goal at the 6:43 mark. Eichel entered the match with eight points in his past three games.
The Ducks played a sound first period, killing the game’s first penalty and generating high-quality chances, including their ice-breaking goal with 2:21 left. They ceded an equalizer with just 48 seconds to play.
Theodore weaved his way from the right point through the left circle and down to the goal line, where his pass through the goal crease found Roy for a redirection goal after Roy beat Jansen Harkins for position in the slot.
McGinn had put the Ducks on the board and up a goal 93 seconds earlier with his third goal of the season and his second point in two games. Leason chipped the puck into the zone and then went to work on the forecheck, pinning and dispossessing Alex Pietrangelo. When he got the puck back behind the net, Leason found an activated Pavel Mintyukov near the left faceoff dot for a dangerous shot that produced a rebound for McGinn’s opportunistic tally.
More to come on this story.