For the first time since 2017, the Anaheim Ducks are through to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With a tall task ahead of them, they traveled to Las Vegas to open up their best-of-seven series against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
The Ducks bested the Edmonton Oilers in six games, finishing on home ice on Thursday. A day later, the Knights wrapped up their series against the Utah Mammoth and immediately turned their sights on the Ducks.
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Vegas got a surprise addition for Game 1 of this series and regained the services of middle-six center and former Ducks prospect William Karlsson. Karlsson slotted in on Vegas’ listed third line, between Tomas Hertl and Keegan Kolesar.
Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville elected to deploy the same lineup that earned his club their Game 6 victory on Thursday. Here’s how the Ducks lined up in this one:
Kreider-Carlsson-Terry
Killorn-Granlund-Sennecke
Gauthier-Poehling-McTavish
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Viel-Washe-Moore
LaCombe-Trouba
Mintyukov-Carlson
Hinds-Helleson
Lukas Dostal got the start for the Ducks, as he had in every first-round game. He saved 19 of 21 shots. In Vegas’ crease, Carter Hart got the nod and stopped 33 of 34.
The Ducks got out to perhaps their very best start of the postseason and played their best 60-minute, 200-foot defensive game in recent memory. They controlled play for most of the hockey game, defended the front of their net well, and created numerous high-danger chances.
Unfortunately, the story of this game will be a waived icing call in the third period that directly led to the Golden Knights’ game-winning goal by Ivan Barbashev. It occurred 1:05 after Anaheim tied up the game and was pushing to net another tally.
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“Clearly, I disagree with the call, and it was clearly… you know… icing, but their guy stopped skating, which really made me annoyed,” Quenneville said after the game.
“I didn’t mind the way we played. I thought we did alright,” Quenneville continued. “I thought we were there the whole game. Had a lot of pace, both teams worked hard. It was a heck of a hockey game.”
Jackson LaCombe-Vegas attacks in a much different stylistic way than the Oilers, and it impacted LaCombe’s effectiveness on the game. Vegas is much more savvy on the cycle and can maintain possession for minutes at a time. LaCombe is an elite rush defender, and he played well in all facets during this game, but he’ll have to find ways to render himself more effective deep in his end.
He had a roller coaster game, as he passed up an opportunity to bury a puck in the low slot that would have given Anaheim a lead in the second period, he led an excellent sequence to set up the Ducks’ lone goal, and following the non-icing no-call, he misplayed Pavel Dorofeyev and allowed him to get to the middle with possession. At his best, LaCombe can be the Ducks’ difference-maker in this series, and he was good, but this was not his best.
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Lukas Dostal-Dostal did enough in this game to win it for Anaheim. Though the shot total was low, the quality of the chances the Knights generated should have earned them more than two goals on Dostal, but the Ducks’ netminder was locked in.
Dostal was perfect on his angles, tracked movement around traffic, and displayed phenomenal rebound control, getting pucks to stick to him and pouncing on others around his crease.
Power Play-Anaheim’s power play, a key contributor to the Ducks’ success in the first round, went 0-4 on the power play. Vegas’ penalty kill is elite, leaps and bounds above Edmonton’s, but the Ducks still managed to execute most of what they’re trying to accomplish between their two units.
Carlson’s unit was able to run their give-and-go sequence with Carlsson and Granlund that led to a couple of quality looks, and LaCombe’s unit was able to find Gauthier on the right flank for a heavy, precise release on a one-timer. Hart matched them all, however, and it could be argued he stole this game for the Knights.
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Game 2 will be right back at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday at 6:30 PM PST.
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