LAS VEGAS — The Anaheim Ducks built a four-goal cushion through two periods, then leaned on Lukas Dostal through a frantic Vegas finish to leave T-Mobile Arena with a 4-3 win in their season opener Friday.
Leo Carlsson supplied a goal and an assist, while Beckett Sennecke, Alex Killorn and Jeff Malott also scored for Anaheim. Dostal turned aside 27 shots as the Ducks survived three Golden Knights goals in the third period.
Vegas, which had opened its schedule with a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, fell to 1-1-0. Shea Theodore, Tomas Hertl and Braedan Bowman scored, Jack Eichel recorded two assists, and Carter Hart made 16 saves.
How Anaheim built the lead
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Sennecke put the Ducks ahead with eight seconds remaining in the opening period. After a Vegas power play expired, Carlsson sprung him with a stretch pass, and Sennecke broke behind the defense before lifting a breakaway finish past Hart for a 1-0 lead.
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Killorn doubled the margin 1:33 into the second. Noah Warren fired from the point near the right circle, and Killorn got his stick on the puck for the redirect. The assist was Warren’s first NHL point in his NHL debut.
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Malott made it 3-0 only 55 seconds later. Tim Washe got a piece of Jackson LaComb’s shot from the left point, and the puck changed direction again off Malott’s right skate in the low slot before slipping through Hart’s pads.
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Carlsson capped Anaheim’s second-period surge at 7:03. Hart stopped an A.J. Greer attempt, but the rebound left him out of position and Carlsson buried the loose puck into an exposed net.
Golden Knights make it tight
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Theodore got Vegas on the board at 4:38 of the third, beating Dostal from the right faceoff dot with a shot to the far side. Anaheim challenged for offside, but video review confirmed the goal.
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Hertl cut the gap to two on the power play at 6:07, working near the crease and banking the puck off the right post.
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Bowman brought Vegas within one at 17:10 when he found a loose puck during a low-slot scramble and sent it past Dostal.
The Ducks kept the door shut from there, preserving a road win after watching Vegas turn a 4-0 deficit into a one-goal game late in the third.
