Ducks no match for Vegas in opening loss
Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, Adin Hill made 22 saves and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Ducks 4-1 on Saturday night.
Chandler Stephenson and Shea Theodore also had a goal and an assist, and Jonas Rondbjerg got his first goal of the season. The defending champion Golden Knights, playing their third game in five nights, improved to 3-0-0 with all the wins by identical scores.
Hill improved to 6-0-1 in his career against Anaheim.
Mason McTavish scored and John Gibson made 34 saves for Anaheim in its season opener. Gibson dropped to 4-17-5 in his career against Vegas.
Eichel scored his second of the season when he skated through and around Anaheim's defense, dangled around Gibson, and fired the puck into a wide-open net for a power-play goal with 2 seconds left in the first period.
Trevor Zegras gave the Ducks their first good look at a goal early in the second when he beat Vegas' defense with a slick pass to himself through his legs but couldn't finish with a backhand attempt on Hill.
Stephenson put Vegas in front by two on a perfect 2-on-1 with Paul Cotter. After passing to Cotter across the slot, Stephenson took the return
LAS VEGAS >>
Ducks defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin slides across the ice to reach the puck during Saturday's season-opening loss.
THE SCORE
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, DUCKS 1 Up next:
Hurricanes at Ducks, today, 5:30p.m., BSSC
feed for a short tap into a wide-open net.
Theodore, who started his career in Anaheim and was playing in his 400th game as a member of the Golden Knights, scored his first of the season with a blistering onetimer from the top, Vegas' second power-play goal of the night. Theodore's assist on Eichel's goal left him one shy of 200 helpers for his career.
Anaheim answered less than a minute later when McTavish cleaned up a rebound in the slot to beat Hill.
SUMMARY
Ducks Vegas
First Period:
1, Vegas, Eichel 2 (Theodore, Stephenson), 19:58 (pp). Penalties: McNabb, LV (Tripping), 7:18. McNabb, LV (Roughing), 16:45. Carrick, ANA (Elbowing), 16:45.
2, Vegas, Stephenson 2 (Cotter, McNabb), 15:03. Penalties: Lyubushkin, ANA (Interference), 2:03. Carrick, ANA (Fighting), 6:51. Kolesar, LV (Fighting), 6:51. Barbashev, LV (Tripping), 11:04. Johnston, ANA (Kneeing), 17:03.
Second Period:
Third Period:
3, Vegas, Theodore 1 (Eichel, Stephenson), 6:16 (pp). 4, Anaheim, McTavish 1 (Drysdale, Strome), 6:43. 5, Vegas, Rondbjerg 1 (Roy, Hague), 17:32 (en). Penalties: Vegas bench, served by Amadio (Roughing), 2:11. Kolesar, LV (Roughing), 2:11. Jones, ANA (Roughing), 2:11. Strome, ANA (Slashing), 2:27. McNabb, LV (Slashing), 2:27. Vatrano, ANA (Holding), 6:05. Carrick, ANA (Hooking), 9:12.
Anaheim 7-8-8: 23. Vegas
Shots on goal:
13-13-13: 39.
Power-play opportunities:
Anaheim 0 of
3. Vegas 2 of 6.
Anaheim, Gibson 0-1-0 (37 shots-34 saves). Vegas, Hill 2-0-0 (23-22).
18,033 (17,367). T: 2:35.
Steve Kozari, Jordan Samuels-Thomas. Linesmen: Caleb Apperson, Steve Barton.
Goalies:
A: Referees: 0 1 0 1 1 2 — — 1 4
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vegas Vancouver Calgary Seattle Kings Ducks
San Jose Edmonton
CENTRAL DIVISION
St. Louis Colorado Arizona Dallas Winnipeg Minnesota Nashville Chicago
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Boston Toronto Montreal Detroit Ottawa Tampa Bay Florida Buffalo
GP W
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0
L OT Pts GF GA
0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
Pittsburgh New Jersey Carolina
N.Y. Islanders N.Y. Rangers Columbus Philadelphia Washington
GP W
3 2 2 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
GP W
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
GP W
3 2 1 1 2 2 2 1
Saturday's games
L OT Pts GF GA
Vegas 4, Ducks 1
Ottawa 5, Philadelphia 2 Winnipeg 6, Florida 4 Detroit 6, Tampa Bay 4 Boston 3, Nashville 2 Columbus 5, N.Y. Rangers 3 Pittsburgh 5, Calgary 2 Montreal 3, Chicago 2 Toronto 7, Minnesota 4
N.Y. Islanders 3, Buffalo 2 St. Louis 2, Seattle 1, SO Vancouver 4, Edmonton 3 Colorado 2, San Jose 1, OT Carolina at Kings, late
Sunday's games
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
L OT Pts GF GA
0 0 1 2 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 3 2 2 2 0 0 15 16 7 2 5 2 2 7
6 13 8 9 8 9 4 3 4 7 8 9 10 7 4 16
L OT Pts GF GA
0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tampa Bay at Ottawa, 4 p.m. Carolina at Ducks, 5:30 p.m. 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 5 4 2 9 6 8 7 4 11 3 7 2 10 2 3 2 8 2 7 2 6 0 0 3 3 3 1 9 7 8 8 3 9 8 8 7 9 8 8 6 7 6 2 6 7 7 4