Leo Carlsson had a goal and an assist and Lukas Dostal made 27 saves as the Anaheim Ducks jumped out to a big early lead and held on for a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night in Las Vegas.
Beckett Sennecke, Alex Killorn and Jeff Malott also scored goals for Anaheim in its season-opener.
Shea Theodore, Tomas Hertl and Braeden Bowman scored goals and Jack Eichel had two assists for Vegas, which lost in regulation for just the fourth time (15-4-1) in 20 regular-season games against Anaheim at T-Mobile Arena. Carter Hart finished with 16 saves for the Golden Knights.
Anaheim took a 1-0 lead at the 19:52 mark of the first period on a breakaway goal by Sennecke. Carlsson picked up the primary assist on the play with a highlight-reel stretch pass from deep in his own zone to Sennecke, who snuck behind a pair of Vegas defenders and then beat Hart with a wrist shot on his glove side.
The Ducks extended the lead to 4-0 in the second period, scoring twice in the span of 55 seconds early in the period.
Killorn, stationed in the slot, made it 2-0 at the 1:33 mark when he redirected Noah Warren’s wrist shot from the right point over Hart’s right shoulder. Warren, making his NHL debut, picked up an assist for his first career point.
Malott followed with a goal on a double deflection. Jackson LaCombe fired a shot from the left point that Tim Washe deflected off Malott’s skate and under Hart’s pads.
A wide-open Carlsson made it a four-goal lead at the 7:03 mark when he slammed in a rebound in the slot after Hart had turned away shots by Cutter Gauthier and A.J. Greer.
Theodore cut the lead to 4-1 early in the third period when he snapped a wrist shot from the middle of the right circle over Dostal’s left shoulder. Anaheim unsuccessfully challenged that Brett Howden was offside earlier in the play, earning the Ducks a two-minute delay of game penalty when the goal stood.
Hertl then scored on the ensuing power play with a wrist shot in the slot off a Mitch Marner pass.
Bowman then cut the deficit to one goal when he put in a rebound of a Victor Olofsson shot with 2:50 to go to make it 4-3.
Vegas pulled Hart for an extra attacker with 2:15 left but Dostal turned away three shots in that final stretch.
