{"id":302619,"date":"2026-05-06T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/302619\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:17:08","slug":"ducks-face-different-task-vs-golden-knights-but-know-what-it-takes-to-rebound-in-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/302619\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks face \u2018different task\u2019 vs. Golden Knights but know what it takes to rebound in Game 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 It is a different opponent and a different circumstance, but the Anaheim Ducks are recovering from a Game 1 loss for the second straight playoff round. The sting of a late tie-breaking goal \u2014 after the controversial lack of an icing call<\/a> \u2014 has them looking to respond and head home on even ground.<\/p>\n

But as they prepare to take on the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 on Wednesday night, the Ducks can look back to their mindset after their opening-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers. In that 4-3 defeat, a tentative Anaheim team with 14 players making their playoff debuts trailed by two goals in the first period but gave a forceful pushback before falling short.<\/p>\n

That game convinced them they could play with the favored Oilers, and beat them. And after a 3-1 loss to the Golden Knights on Monday, in which they had decisive advantages in shots on goal, shot attempts, scoring chances and high-danger looks, the Ducks have a similar attitude against a veteran Vegas club with tons of playoff experience that edged them out for this season\u2019s Pacific Division title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel good about this group,\u201d winger Troy Terry said after Game 1. \u201cWe feel good about how we match up with them. I thought we used our speed all night (in Game 1). Honestly, I thought that we made it hard on them, and I like how we played.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks had reason to speak with confidence. They also generated four power-play chances in Game 1 and allowed only two \u2014 and killed off both. Natural Stat Trick had the Ducks with a 67.02 percentage in expected goals and twice as many high-danger chances as the Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

And Anaheim got some key saves from Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l, who looked more confident than at any time in the Edmonton series. The biggest reason Vegas came away with the Game 1 victory was that Carter Hart stood tall in a 33-save performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a different task at hand,\u201d Ducks center Ryan Poehling said. \u201cBut honestly, for us, it was definitely good coming out of there. I thought we played a great game. And I think just using our speed throughout the series is going to be kind of what dictates how it ends up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of their recovery day away from the rink on Tuesday was about moving on from Ivan Barbashev\u2019s game-winning goal with 4:58 left in regulation. Ducks coach Joel Quenneville hotly contested the play, believing icing\u00a0should have been called when Barbashev dumped in a puck from the Vegas side of the center line, and Jackson LaCombe had beaten the Golden Knights\u2019 Jack Eichel to the puck.<\/p>\n

It was determined by on-ice officials that Eichel had pulled even with LaCombe when the two reached the faceoff dot, even though it appeared on replays that LaCombe had maintained an edge. A day later, Poehling said it wasn\u2019t worth letting that play linger in their heads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the moment, you\u2019re a little fed up with it. But at the end of the day, it\u2019s a fast game. We all make mistakes and you know the (linesperson), he saw it how he did. And that\u2019s hockey for you. But it doesn\u2019t dictate how you win or lose, right? Yeah, it was a big call, but there\u2019s other things that you can do to manage the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the Ducks will want to change in Game 2 is their power play, which went 8-for-16 against the Oilers but came up empty in four chances against a Vegas kill that has erased 19 of their 20 short-handed playoff attempts. It is already evident that the Golden Knights will be a stiffer challenge to create offense against and finish plays against, whether at even strength or on the power play.<\/p>\n

Poehling said Vegas\u2019 defense corps \u201cis just massive\u201d compared to that of Edmonton. Vegas also is far more structurally sound, so scoring 26 goals \u2014 as the Ducks did in the first round \u2014 doesn\u2019t feel realistic. Lower-scoring games are likely. \u201cThey play hard defensively,\u201d Poehling said. \u201cThey\u2019re sound defensively. They\u2019re in the right spots. You\u2019ve really got to work to get your chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ducks must convert more of their chances. Players talked about making things tougher on Hart and getting in his view field so he doesn\u2019t get clean looks at pucks.<\/p>\n

Quenneville has been impressed with how his team has come back from adversity this season. A seven-game win streak in January \u2014 part of 12 victories in 14 games \u2014 got the Ducks back on track after an 0-8-1 stretch. And after a late-season 0-6-2 skid, they won their season finale to secure third place in the division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we\u2019ve had stretches (that in the) season were extremely exciting, and some really tough stretches as well,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cPlayoffs, you don\u2019t have that type of time to look at what you can fix. It\u2019s an immediate type of thing you\u2019ve got to look at and try to get right. To me, we had a lot of get right (Monday) night and that\u2019s basically how we want to build off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is Mikael Granlund\u2019s first postseason with the Ducks, after he signed a three-year deal as a free agent last July. But it is the 16th playoff series for the 34-year-old forward. He knows the value of moving on, whether it\u2019s from a missed scoring opportunity, a call that doesn\u2019t go his team\u2019s way or a loss in a game that was well-played.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different momentum swings,\u201d Granlund said. \u201cEvery series is different, every game is a little different. You\u2019ve just got to be able to move on, try to get better every single time and that\u2019s all you can do. It\u2019s the playoffs. Things happen and you know that\u2019s just a part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vegas also figures to raise its game. The Golden Knights gave credit to Anaheim for making it tough on them. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone in that locker room is pretty satisfied with that win,\u201d said Mitch Marner, who set up Brett Howden\u2019s second-period goal and wrapped up the victory with an empty-net goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a find-a-way league,\u201d Vegas coach John Tortorella said. \u201cWe found a way to win. I\u2019m certainly not going to apologize for the win. I think the biggest thing is, we need to be honest with ourselves. We\u2019ll look at some of the stuff and I think we have a better game coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is exactly what the Ducks are expecting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what playoffs is,\u201d Poehling said. \u201cA little bit of cat and mouse, where you know maybe they didn\u2019t play their best (Monday) night and they stole one from us. But from our standpoint, you just know that they\u2019re going to come out harder. You know they\u2019re going to make adjustments. They\u2019re going to be tougher on us. Try to slow us down. Know that\u2019s coming but just more of the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 1 proved to be a disappointment. But the Ducks aren\u2019t dwelling on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can play like that for the length of this series, I think we should put ourselves in a good spot,\u201d Terry said. \u201cThey\u2019re a good team. They\u2019re going to make adjustments, we\u2019re going to make adjustments. This group\u2019s excited for Game 2 already.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 It is a different opponent and a different circumstance, but the Anaheim Ducks are recovering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164],"class_list":["post-302619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}