ANAHEIM– Fighting for their lives with their season on the line, the Anaheim Ducks showed grit in an impressive Game 4 victory over the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, May 10 at the wild Honda Center.
A resilient performance by the Ducks after the massacre that was Game 3. A rejuivanated offense which finally capitalized on the power play, tying the Western Conference Second Round series at 2-2.
Beckett Sennecke, Alex Killorn, Mikael Granlund, and Ian Moore scored for Anaheim. Lukas Dostal made 18 saves, and the Ducks improved to 4-0 after losses in these playoffs.
Anaheim went on the power play in the first period, and Sennecke ripped a one-timer past Carter Hart at 8:43 to make it 1-0.
Vegas answered quickly. Pavel Dorofeyev tied it at 10:22 after Mitch Marner’s shot dropped loose near the crease. No panic from Anaheim, though. Granlund put the Ducks back ahead 2-1 later in the period after his shot changed direction and slipped under Hart.
With 2:00 left in the 2nd period, Killorn banked the puck in from near the goal line for Anaheim’s second power-play goal of the night.
That was the play that felt most-impactful. Vegas had tied the game earlier in the period on Brett Howden’s goal, and Anaheim needed a clean response before intermission.
Ian Moore made it 4-2 at 3:43 of the third period, and that goal became the winner, and play of the night. Moore had been a healthy scratch for the previous two games, which makes the moment even better. Not every playoff hero arrives with a spotlight already on him.
Now it’s a best-of-three, and Anaheim has made this series feel very much alive.
Game 5 is on Tuesday, May 12 in Las Vegas and Game 6 is Thursday, May 14 back in Anaheim.
