The Anaheim Ducks evened their best-of-seven series at 2-2 with a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 on Sunday night. With a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead, the Golden Knights instead fell short, as Anaheim capitalized on two power-play goals and held on for the win. History had shown that teams leading 3-1 in a best-of-seven series win 90% of the time, and those securing that advantage on the road win 92% of the time, adding pressure on Vegas. However, the Ducks rose to the occasion.
Both teams played without their captains. Anaheim was missing defenseman Radko Gudas for the seventh straight game, while Vegas was without captain Mark Stone due to an undisclosed injury. Stone played only 4:24 in Game 3 before leaving with a non-contact injury. Without Stone in the lineup this season, the Golden Knights went 8-9-5 (.519 winning percentage), compared to 31-17-12 (.593) with him.
The scoring opened when Anaheim finally solved the Vegas penalty kill, which had been perfect until then. Beckett Sennecke (4) blasted a slap shot through Carter Hart’s five-hole from the top of the right circle at 8:43 of the first period to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead. It was Sennecke’s third consecutive game with a goal in the series. Prior to that goal, the Golden Knights’ penalty kill had killed 21 straight penalties and 26 of 27.
Just 1:40 later, the Golden Knights answered with a power-play goal of their own. Jack Eichel’s slap shot from the top of the left circle tipped off Lukas Dostal’s glove, and Pavel Dorofeyev (5) beat Mikael Granlund to the net, pouncing on the rebound and shoveling it in to tie the game at 1. That was Vegas’ third power-play goal in ten opportunities this series.
Granlund, who had been beaten on the tying goal, made amends just over five minutes later with a bizarre goal. His wrist shot from inside the left circle hit Cole Smith’s stick, knocking it out of his hands. The deflection changed the puck’s trajectory, bouncing off the ice in front of Hart and through his equipment to give Anaheim a 2-1 lead.
In a moment of wizardry, William Karlsson pulled off a backhand pass while absorbing a hit from Jacob Trouba, threading the puck through a tight seam to Brett Howden (7), who beat his man to the net and chipped the pass over Dostal to tie the game at 2 at 4:04 of the second period. The goal tied Howden with Minnesota’s Matt Boldy for the most postseason goals. Mitch Marner, who picked up the secondary assist, moved past Kirill Kaprizov of Minnesota for the most postseason points (15). Marner finished the night with three points, giving him seven in his last two games.
Anaheim’s third power-play opportunity late in the second period resulted in another goal. After a clean zone entry by Sennecke and perimeter passing, Alex Killorn (4) gathered a loose puck at the bottom of the right circle, drove hard to the net, and fired a wrist shot under Hart’s left arm at 17:58 to put the Ducks ahead 3-2. The Golden Knights could not overcome the deficit, and Anaheim secured the 4-3 win to send the series back to Vegas tied at 2-2.
