Golden Knights comeback falls short against Ducks

The Vegas Golden Knights nearly climbed all the way out of a four-goal hole Friday night, scoring three times in the third period before falling 4-3 to the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena.

Vegas outshot Anaheim 30-20 and controlled much of the final period, but the comeback could not erase what happened earlier. The Ducks scored with eight seconds left in the first, then struck three more times in the opening 7:03 of the second to build a 4-0 lead.

That stretch, more than the late push, was the story of the night.

“You give yourself credit for fighting back, but you never want to put yourself in those situations,” Mark Stone said.

One goal turns into four

The first period was competitive, and Vegas had chances to leave it even. Instead, Beckett Sennecke scored with eight seconds remaining, giving Anaheim a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

The game unraveled quickly from there. Alex Killorn scored 1:33 into the second, Jeff Malott made it 3-0 just 55 seconds later and Leo Carlsson extended the lead to 4-0 at 7:03.

Head coach Ryan Craig did not pin the collapse on the start of the game. He pointed instead to what followed the late first-period goal.

“It’s the start of the second period that did us in,” Craig said. “It wasn’t the start of the game.”

Craig also identified a larger problem within that stretch: Vegas allowed one mistake to become several.

“We have to stop the bleeding, I guess, when, when, you know, we don’t want one to turn into two to turn into three and turn to four like it did tonight,” he said.

Brett Howden saw the same pattern developing through the neutral zone, where Vegas began trying to force plays rather than sustain possession and pressure.

“I thought we were trying to force some plays in the neutral zone,” Howden said. “They picked up some momentum off that.”

Third period looks different

Vegas finally changed the game in the third.

After killing a penalty to open the period, Shea Theodore scored at 4:38 to make it 4-1. Anaheim challenged for offside, but the goal stood, and the failed challenge put Vegas on the power play.

Tomas Hertl converted 1:29 later, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Jack Eichel assisted on both goals, while Mitch Marner picked up his first point of the season on Hertl’s power-play score.

The Golden Knights then began playing the way they had talked about playing all night: getting pucks deep, recovering them and forcing Anaheim to defend below its goal line.

Craig called the early third-period sequence the turning point.

“We needed the kill, and then the early goal gave us some life,” Craig said. “We were able to get going after that.”

Vegas outshot Anaheim 13-6 in the third and kept pressing until Braeden Bowman scored with 2:50 remaining. Victor Olofsson and Brayden McNabb assisted, pulling the Golden Knights within one.