Ducks Beat Golden Knights 4-3, Even Up The Series

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks hosted the Vegas Golden Knights for Game 4 of their series. Lukas Dostal was in net against Carter Hart. Mason McTavish drew in for Jansen Harkins. Olen Zellweger and Ian Moore both drew in for Tyson Hinds and Drew Helleson.

Beckett Sennecke got the Ducks on the board first on the power play. He scored on a one timer from the top of the right face-off circle which beat Hart low.

Vegas answered with their own power play goal less than two minutes later. Ross Johnston was called for a questionable penalty and Pavel Dorofeyev got to a rebound in close and tapped the puck in.

Anaheim regained the lead with less than five minutes to go in the period. Mikael Granlund scored from the left face-off circle. His shot was partially blocked and a knuckle puck beat Hart. The Ducks lead 2-1 after the first period.

Vegas tied up the game early in the second period. William Karlsson found Brett Howden crashing the net and he deflected the pass behind Dostal.

Anaheim retook the lead with about two minutes to go in the middle frame. Alex Killorn scored in close on the power play. Ducks led 3-2 after two periods.

Ian Moore gave the Ducks a 4-2 lead early in the third period. He took a shot just inside the blue line through traffic and it beat Hart.

Tomas Hertl scored with just over one minute left in close to pull Vegas within a goal. They tried to might another final push, but the Ducks were able to hang on and win 4-3.

Analysis:

The Ducks came out and played with purpose after a lackluster Game 3 performance. Anaheim got the first goal of the game and had a 2-1 lead after the first period. They built a 4-2 lead early in the third and were able to hang on in the final minutes to pull out a 4-3 win.

Head Coach Joel Quenneville made several lineup changes and they worked as the Ducks responded after the disaster in Game 3. McTavish was back and looked dangerous despite not registering a point on the night. The power play did come alive with his presence as Anaheim went 2-for-4. They had gone 0-for-11 in the previous three games.

Zellweger and Moore coming in as the third defensive pairing paid dividends. Moore scored his first playoff goal, which ended up being the game winner. Zellweger picked up an assist on the play. The two worked well together getting after pucks and disrupting the Vegas forecheck.

Cutter Gauthier hasn’t scored a goal against Vegas, but he came up big in this contest assisting on three of the four goals. The line of him McTavish and Ryan Poehling had good chemistry throughout this contest.

One area of concern is some lack of discipline by Anaheim. Vegas has been getting under the skin of some of the Anaheim players, which has resulted in them taking unnecessary penalties. Ducks have been responding to the physical play, but need to avoid the penalty box with unnecessary retaliatory hits.

If the Ducks can repeat this performance then they can put themselves in a good position to win Game 5 in Las Vegas.

Team Notes/Stats:

Sennecke is the second Ducks rookie to score a goal in three consecutive playoff games. Bobby Ryan did it in the 2009 playoffs.

Gauthier is the youngest player in team history to record three assists in one playoff game.

The Ducks are 4-0 at home during the playoffs this year when Teemu Selanne is in attendance.

What’s Next?

The Ducks travel to Las Vegas for Game 5 Tuesday at 6:30 PM.

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May 11th, 2026