William Karlsson made his long-awaited return to the Golden Knights lineup Monday night, drawing a standing ovation from the T-Mobile Arena crowd during his first shift on the penalty kill. The two-way center had been sidelined since Nov. 8 with a lower-body injury.
Brett Howden opened the scoring at 3:14 of the second period, tipping in a Mitch Marner feed from the far post. It was Howden’s fifth goal of the postseason. Marner set up the play after receiving a pass from Rasmus Andersson and creating space in the offensive zone.
The goal came amid heavy Duck pressure. Anaheim had outshot Vegas 15-7 before Howden struck, and moments earlier the Knights had killed a penalty and survived a shot off the post.
Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal kept his team in the game with several key saves, including a breakaway stop on Andersson in the first period. At the other end, Carter Hart made 11 saves in the opening frame to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes.
Karlsson skated as the third-line center between Keegan Kolesar and Tomas Hertl, who moved to wing. Reilly Smith was a healthy scratch, skating as an extra in warmups.
Vegas entered the series as a heavy favorite, with MoneyPuck.com giving them a 66.8% chance to advance. The game aired on ESPN.
