ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Vegas Golden Knights’ penalty kill, which had been nearly perfect through the first three games of the series, finally cracked in Game 4. The Anaheim Ducks scored twice with the man advantage, turning a tight game into a 4-3 victory at Honda Center on Sunday, evening the first-round playoff series at two games apiece.
Goaltender Carter Hart allowed four goals on 23 shots, his worst outing of the series. The Ducks’ power-play goals came at critical junctures, erasing any margin for error for the Knights.
Beckett Sennecke opened the scoring with a one-timer from the top of the circle that beat Hart five-hole at 7:47 of the first period. The goal came after a questionable interference penalty on Dylan Coghlan. “It’s been pretty damn good for quite a while here,” forward Colton Sissons said. “Sometimes, bounces will go that way. It shouldn’t shake our confidence as a whole.”
Mikael Granlund gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 15:25 of the second period with a knuckling shot that took a couple of hops and rolled past Hart. Just over a minute later, Brayden McNabb took a cross-checking penalty, but the Knights killed it. However, with 3:17 left in the period, Cole Smith was called for slashing after an extended shift, and Alex Killorn made them pay, banking a shot off Hart at 18:32 to put Anaheim ahead 3-2.
“You’re not going to be perfect every night,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “They shot the puck a little more, and they were getting bounces. It is what it is.”
Ian Cole extended the Ducks’ lead to 4-2 early in the third period with a point shot that beat Hart with no traffic. The Knights pulled within one late but couldn’t find the equalizer.
The Knights were outshot 23-21, the third time in the series they’ve lost the shot battle. Despite generating some chances, they couldn’t match the Ducks’ opportunistic scoring. “We did have some good looks,” Sissons said. “I don’t think we had a ton tonight, but we had enough really good looks to put up some goals and just didn’t go.”
The series now shifts back to Las Vegas for Game 5 on Tuesday. The Ducks have controlled play for much of the series, but the Knights have home-ice advantage and experience to lean on. “I think just the stakes get higher and people raise their level in their game,” Sissons said. “Guys have a lot of experience in this locker room, going deep into a series, and we’ll lean on that again.”
