Power play breaks through as Ducks tie the series
· Yahoo Sports
ANAHEIM, Calif. — What was the Ducks’ greatest peril against the Golden Knights turned out to be the reason why they evened the series.
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The storyline for Vegas throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs has been their almost-immaculate penalty kill. Heading into Game 4 on Sunday night at Honda Center, the Golden Knights’ penalty kill had successfully killed off 26 of 27 penalties and was riding a streak of 21 consecutive kills.
On Sunday, though, the Ducks’ power play finally broke through with a pair of goals to help them edge past the Golden Knights, 4-3, to even the series.
“A lot of times, you could move the puck around too much and you kind of look for the perfect opportunity on power play,” Alex Killorn said. “I think for us, it's just about getting more chances and more shots on net. Typically, on a power play, the more times you shoot it, a lot happens off rebounds or a puck will go in the corner and you can create plays off of that.
“So it's not about getting the perfect play. I think we just did a better job getting pucks to the net today.”
After getting blown out in Game 3 by a score of 6-2, the Ducks looked to set the tone early. After a couple of good shifts where they controlled the pace of play, the Ducks got Dylan Coghlan to take an interference penalty seven minutes into the game.
On that power play, Beckett Sennecke unleashed a rocket of a one-timer from just beyond the right faceoff dot and through the five-hole of Carter Hart for the power play goal.
It’s the third straight playoff game that the 20-year-old rookie has scored in, and he now has four during these playoffs in total.
“A lot,” Sennecke said when asked how much fun he’s having in these playoffs. “It's really, really cool, and it's kind of something that you dream of. Having it in my first year is super fortunate.”
Just over 30 seconds later, Ross Johnston took an interference penalty of his own, leading to a power-play goal for Vegas on a shot that deflected off of Mitch Marner’s glove, so Lukáš Dostál didn’t catch it cleanly, and then Pavel Dorofeyev tapped in the rebound.
After Mikael Granlund scored on a changeup caused by a deflection and Brett Howden chipped one in from in front of the net because Tim Washe was unable to tie his stick up to make it 2-2, the power play once again made a difference.
With just over two minutes remaining in the second period, Sennecke fanned on a pass, so he kept the puck and made a spin move around Howden to enter the zone, and sent a cross-ice pass to Killorn at the blue line. After a pass to Cutter Gauthier in the corner, Killorn followed his pass and Gauthier tapped it back to him, and Killorn drove the net along the goal line and squeaked it past Hart for the power play goal to take the lead.
“He was really involved emotionally in the game tonight,” Killorn said of Sennecke. “I think that's when he plays his best. He's making hits, he's taking hits. Makes two great plays on the goal and finds me on my goal when he enters the zone. But I just like the way he plays. He gets in the mix.”
There are obviously holes in Sennecke’s game, like many 20-year-olds. But Sennecke’s offensive prowess and youthful energy have been a massive boost for this Ducks team all year, resulting in a 60-point season as in his rookie season and earning a nod as a Calder Trophy finalist.
“Offensively, we try to get out of his way, and defensively, let's make sure there's more consistency,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said of Sennecke. “But that's him, and we still can grow along with him and try to improve him in those situations. But you've got to love the kid. His attitude's great.”
Anaheim’s power play finished the game 2-for-4.
As good as the power play was for the Ducks, the penalty kill and five-on-five play needed to be better to make those power-play goals count.
“I think the biggest part of the game was, I think we need to get out of the second period 2-2,” Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella said. That gave them some life and they scored their fourth goal and they just filled in the neutral zone and just stacked it. I thought that was the most important part of the game.”
The Ducks began the third period on the penalty kill while holding onto a one-goal lead because of a cross-checking penalty that Sennecke took to end the second period. The penalty killing unit for Anaheim came up big with the kill, which sparked more momentum in the Ducks’ favor.
Shortly after the kill, Ian Moore made it a two-goal game by winding up for a slap shot at the point, but waited a split second longer to get more Vegas defenders in front of the eyes of Hart, and then sent a shot through traffic and into the back of the net.
It was a feel-good moment for Moore, as he hasn’t played since Game 1, and has spent the majority of the season bouncing back between being a defenseman, his actual position, and the right wing on the fourth line.
“Well, he's a high-character kid,” Quenneville said. “His approach is to do everything as well and hard as he can the right way. I think that's why we trusted him up front. He kind of led how we wanted to play technically in a lot of the things we did offensively to start the year. He improved off of those levels. Having that flexibility in a game like tonight, you're comfortable doing it, says a lot.”
This was Moore’s first game at his natural position since April 1, and it was his first goal and point since March 12.
“You do what you can to stay ready,” Moore said. “Off the ice, on the ice, in the skates, the staff does a great job making sure everyone's ready to go. We got some of the guys that can play everywhere in different roles and that's been a huge help for us this year. The staff and the guys do a great job of just making sure you're always ready because you never know what's going to happen.”
Moore was paired with Olen Zellweger, who has also been absent from the lineup. The 22-year-old defenseman has been healthy-scratched every game since April 7.
Despite not playing in over a month, Zellweger played well and notched an assist on the Moore goal.
“I thought they both did a very good job,” Quenneville said. “Their minutes might not have been high, but at the same time, their quality of shifts was important. They gave us steady, they gave us some offense, they gave us a little bit of everything.”
Getting offense from the blue line has been one of the keys to the Ducks’ success this season. =
In the regular season, Jackson LaCombe put up 58 points, and John Carlson tallied 14 points in 16 games after being traded to Anaheim at the trade deadline. In the postseason, LaCombe is tied for the team lead with 10 points in 10 games and Carlson has six.
“When we're playing our best, our (defensemen) join in,” Moore said. “We got some good skaters and see the way some of these guys on our back end can get up on the rush, so we try and utilize that to our advantage, try and be smart about when we're going. (Zellweger) was jumping up, using his speed and creating some offense, it's definitely important for us.”
Moore’s goal ended up being the game-winner, as Vegas made things interesting in the final minutes of the game with a goal by Tomáš Hertl with just over a minute to play. Hertl was all alone in front of the net after the zone entry and easily put in a rebound.
The Ducks held on for the last minute, though, and even the series at two a piece as the series now shifts back to Las Vegas for Game 5 on Tuesday night.