{"id":307480,"date":"2026-05-09T09:14:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/307480\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T09:14:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:14:31","slug":"ducks-cant-stop-mitch-marner-and-golden-knights-in-game-3-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/307480\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks can’t stop Mitch Marner and Golden Knights in Game 3 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do you stop a flock of high-flying Ducks? You clip their wings.<\/p>\n

Also, unleash Mitch Marner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At least that was the remedy the Vegas Golden Knights used Friday to rout the Ducks 6-2<\/a> in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, which continues Sunday at Honda Center.<\/p>\n

Half the goals came from Marner, who also had an assist. Defensemen Shea Theodore<\/a> and Brayden McNabb<\/a> and winger Brett Howden<\/a> had the other goals \u2014 with Howden\u2019s coming into an empty net \u2014 handing the Ducks their first loss in four games at home this postseason.<\/p>\n

Beckett Sennecke<\/a> and Chris Kreider<\/a> scored in the third period for the Ducks. But by then the game was all but decided, with Vegas scoring three first-period goals \u2014 on just eight shots \u2014 and never looking back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a great start,\u201d Alex Killorn<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to win a game when you put yourself in spots like that. The kind of mistakes that we made are not typical of our team.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a seven-game series.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fast start followed two games in which the plodding Golden Knights watched the Ducks skate rings around them. So they got physical Friday, using an aggressive forecheck to ground the speedy young Ducks<\/a>. Vegas also did a good job in the first two periods of limiting the Ducks\u2019 possession time in the offensive zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a bigger team, and that\u2019s how they play,\u201d Jackson LaCombe<\/a> said. \u201cThey\u2019re experienced too. They played well tonight and we just have to match that the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vegas, which never led in Game 2, went in front 66 seconds into Game 3 when Theodore, who started his NHL career in Anaheim, got past Ducks winger Cutter Gauthier to the puck on the inside edge of the right circle and beat Lukas Dostal<\/a> cleanly on the first shot of the night.<\/p>\n

\"Vegas <\/p>\n

Vegas players celebrate after a goal against the Ducks in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at Honda Center on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Jack Eichel<\/a> got an assist on the goal, his 10th of the postseason.<\/p>\n

With Eichel in the penalty box for hooking, McNabb, a former King, doubled the lead with a shorthanded goal less than eight minutes before the first intermission, banging a shot from the center of the left circle just inside the far post.<\/p>\n

The Golden Knights killed two penalties on the night and have killed all 11 Ducks power plays in the series.<\/p>\n

Marner took advantage of a fortunate bounce to make it 3-0 on a power-play goal with five seconds left in the first period. A shot from Colton Sissons on the right wing ricocheted off Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba and went straight to Marner, who was charging into the slot.<\/p>\n

Marner took a couple of whacks at the puck before finally getting it past Dostal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat goal certainly was the killer,\u201d Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. \u201cThey were desperate. They were hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ducks <\/p>\n

Ducks coach Joel Quenneville shouts from the bench during the team\u2019s 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Dostal wouldn\u2019t see another shot, with Ville Husso taking over in goal to start the second period. It seemed like a quick hook for Dostal, who came within a few seconds of the Ducks\u2019 first shutout of the season in a 3-1 win in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The change didn\u2019t work, with Marner extending the lead on his next shot midway through the second period.<\/p>\n

Marner then completed the hat trick with 2:04 left in the second period, taking a backhand pass from William Karlsson behind the net and skating untouched toward the left circle before beating Husso with a quick snap shot.<\/p>\n

A chorus of boos from the sellout crowd at Honda Center chased the Ducks to the locker room after the second period. Sennecke responded, diving headfirst between two defenders and into the crease to knock in the rebound of a Killorn shot from the far edge of the right circle for the Ducks\u2019 first goal 6:30 into the third.<\/p>\n

Kreider scored with less than five minutes left.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there\u2019s a lesson to take out of today\u2019s game: it\u2019s only going to get harder,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cEvery single game, it\u2019s not going to get any easier. So let\u2019s get ready to go to war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How do you stop a flock of high-flying Ducks? You clip their wings. Also, unleash Mitch Marner. At…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[129271,29683,6264,423,2194,58068,5647,48,52,51,5814,47,50,49,3289,29848,1869,129270,30512,5250,39578],"class_list":["post-307480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bennett-sennecke","tag-duck","tag-ducks","tag-game","tag-goal","tag-golden-knights","tag-honda-center","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lead","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-loss","tag-mitch-marner","tag-night","tag-puck-time","tag-second-period","tag-shot","tag-vegas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307480","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=307480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}