ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Ducks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 on Wednesday night in Game 2, tying the second-round series at one game apiece and answering a Game 1 loss that had felt painfully avoidable. This time, the Ducks turned a fast game into a controlled one, made it hard for Vegas to generate offense and left the home ice with the kind of result they had been chasing since the series began.
Lukáš Dostál was sharp in net, and Anaheim’s skaters backed him with a physical, organized effort that fit the night. Jacob Trouba blocked four key shots, added five hits and took six shots from the point, while the Ducks used speed to cut off Golden Knights playmakers Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner. The game was full of hard hits, but Anaheim’s pace kept the Knights from settling in.
That was the reversal from Game 1, when Anaheim controlled possession, had the territorial edge and outshot and out-chanced Vegas but still lost because of two coverage breakdowns. On Wednesday, the Ducks made the same kind of pressure count. Joel Quenneville said that low-scoring, tight games are not normally the club’s style, but added that the only way to be successful in the playoffs is to win games like this. The result was especially important for a team that entered the postseason with a minus-15 goal differential and 288 goals allowed during the regular season, numbers that had fed criticism that Anaheim was too dependent on outscoring opponents.
The Ducks have already shown they can survive a different kind of test. They eliminated the Edmonton Oilers in a high-scoring opening round, then ran into a Golden Knights team Ryan Poehling described as more methodical and more physical than Edmonton. Anaheim’s answer on Wednesday was simple: play patiently, jump on chances when they came and use speed, “fast, fast, fast,” to make Vegas chase. Poehling said the Ducks believe the way to beat the Knights is to outpace them, and that quick shifts and mutual support can make Anaheim difficult to play against when it finds that rhythm.
The tension in the series is what happens when a team built to attack has to win a grinding game. The Ducks have the speed to disrupt Vegas, but they also know the Golden Knights can drag a game into a heavier, more deliberate fight. Quenneville reached his 1,000th career game in his first season with Anaheim, and this one looked like the sort of night that may define the rest of the series: not pretty, not open, but necessary if the Ducks are going to keep moving.
