The Vegas Golden Knights were in this same position in the first round, splitting the first two games while taking a while to get to their game.

But the Anaheim Ducks are a different animal and present a more formidable challenge with the series shifting to Southern California.

The Knights couldn’t get going offensively against a Ducks team that swarmed them all night, leading to a 3-1 loss in Game 2 of the second-round series at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

“I think we’re always concerned no matter what,” a reserved coach John Tortorella said postgame. “Win or lose, coaches are always looking to pronounce the good things, work on the bad things. We still got some things to work on.”

Game 3 is at Honda Center in Anaheim on Friday.

Captain Mark Stone ended a shutout bid with five seconds remaining, but Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal finished with 24 saves.

Knights goaltender Carter Hart had another strong performance with 25 saves after allowing one goal on 34 shots in Game 1.

“Obviously, this hasn’t been our best these last two,” Stone said. “The good news is we can improve.”

Hart has been the Knights’ best player through six periods of this series. You’d normally want a goalie to be that good.

Tortorella went as far as to say the Knights won despite Anaheim being the better team in Game 1, if not for the play of Hart.

And yet, Game 2 was more of the same.

Tortorella, not surprisingly, never went into specifics on what areas he wanted to see improve. Whatever they were, it took a while to get there. The Ducks got an eight-minute power play early in the game.

Tomas Hertl was called for high-sticking in the offensive zone. Four seconds left from killing that, Mitch Marner cleared the puck over the glass for delay of game.

Twenty-two seconds later, Jack Eichel was charged with a double-minor for high-sticking and gave the Ducks a 1 minute, 38-second 5-on-3.

The Ducks had five shots total in those eight minutes. They didn’t score. The Knights’ penalty kill went 5-for-5 and is 24-for-25 in the postseason.

“Outstanding,” Tortorella said. “It kind of screws us up. We want to try to get a good start, and we’re sitting in the box. I think that affects things as you’re trying to get through the first period.”

If the game was decided on defense and not goals, the Knights would have gotten clean marks.

The Knights weren’t clean entering the offensive zone. There were too many one-and-done possessions, along with shaky puck management. They had 19 giveaways. The Knights had no answer for Anaheim’s sustained offensive-zone pressure.

It showed on the Ducks’ first goal, with winger Jeffrey Viel winning a puck battle and finding Calder Trophy candidate Beckett Sennecke in front at 11:23 of the second period.

Anaheim had 14 scoring chances in the second period at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick, and a 24-14 edge for the game.

“We got the kills when we needed them, but we just couldn’t get back on the saddle and get anything really cooking,” Stone said.

Ducks center Leo Carlsson scored the dagger at 6:36 of the third with a weak-side finish.

The Knights are two games removed from playing their best game of the season in the close-out Game 6 against Utah. There’s still plenty of hockey to be played, which is maybe why Tortorella didn’t seem as agitated postgame.

That might change when he looks at the tape.

“I like some of the things,” Tortorella said. “We’re going to have to get some big plays. There were some almosts, and we just didn’t complete the next play. They split here, now we’ve got to try to go get a game over there.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.

Series schedule

Series tied 1-1

Game 1: Knights 3, Ducks 1

Game 2: Ducks 3, Knights 1

Game 3: Friday, 6:30 p.m. at Honda Center (TNT)

Game 4: Sunday, 6:30 p.m. at Honda Center (ESPN)

Game 5: May 12, TBD at T-Mobile Arena (ESPN)

*Game 6: May 14, TBD at Honda Center (TNT)

*Game 7: May 16, TBD at T-Mobile Arena (ESPN or ABC)

*if necessary