ANAHEIM — It took less than 25 minutes for the Ducks to mount a 3-0 lead, which enabled them prevail 4-3 over the Vegas Golden Knights at Honda Center on Sunday evening.
They swept the season series from Vegas following a pair of overtime victories by identical 4-3 counts back in November. Vegas, which entered the NHL in the 2017-18 season, had never been swept by the Ducks previously.
“They’re a team that we see a lot and they’ve been kind of the standard in our division,” Troy Terry said. “I’m super proud of all three games — they were all different — and how we’ve shown up to play that team each time.”
The Ducks won for the eighth time in 10 games, a stretch that included seven consecutive victories. Vegas dropped its fifth straight decision and seventh in eight outings since its own seven-game win streak concluded. The Golden Knights lost to Seattle less than 24 hours earlier.
This ‘W’ moved the Ducks to within three points of Vegas and the Edmonton Oilers, who are in a points tie for first place in the Pacific. The Ducks and Kraken are similarly deadlocked for third, with Seattle headed to Honda Center on Tuesday.
“Everybody’s probably thinking the same way, that we all have chances. Everybody’s probably thinking that if you put three or four games together, you can move by a number of teams,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “But don’t think you’re gonna be there long and just rest on your laurels. It’s going to be a test for everybody right until the end.”
Chris Kreider scored two goals and set a screen for another by Cutter Gauthier. Kreider’s linemate Ryan Poehling tacked on an empty-netter and chipped in an assist. Terry and Jacob Trouba each had two helpers. Terry (upper-body injury) played for the first time since Jan. 6, while Mason McTavish also returned to action after a five-match absence. Lukáš Dostál won for the seventh time in eight starts, behind 28 saves.
Mitch Marner, Ivan Barbashev and Tomáš Hertl found the back of the net for Vegas. Mark Stone contributed two assists. Adin Hill halted 19 of 22 pucks.
The Ducks landed the first blow with 6:39 left in the first period.
Pavel Mintyukov’s hard pass was disrupted, but still came to Poehling. He drove the net from a sharp angle, initially skating hard before he pulled up to feather an intricate centering pass to Kreider on the doorstep.
“Obviously, Chris Kreider has made a living at being at the front of the net. Two big goals from him, and (Poehling) was all over it,” Terry said.
Kreider and the Ducks extended their edge to 2-0 just 70 seconds into the middle frame.
Mintyukov’s shot was blocked by Jack Eichel, sending it off the end boards. Terry settled it behind the net and gently chipped a pass off the wall to Trouba at the left point. He flung an attempt that found Kreider’s stick for a sinking tip-in tally. Kreider’s 19th goal was also his second of the night and third in five appearances.
That lead expanded to three goals at the 4:32 mark, when the Ducks converted on their first power play.
Beckett Sennecke fell to his knees as he traversed the area between the blue line and the tops of the circles, causing a shift in the Vegas penalty kill. He regained his footing and reversed the puck to Jackson LaCombe, who found Gauthier for a short-side snipe from the right circle through a Kreider screen. Gauthier’s 24th goal of 2025-26 gave him six more than any other Duck.
“They’ve got the young skill in there, they’ve got a lot of speed and they were better than us tonight,” former Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore said.
Vegas clawed back a goal as the midway mark loomed, with a fortuitous bounce becoming a marker for Marner.
Stone’s centering pass from below the goal line was going to the near side, but banked off defenseman Ian Moore’s skate to the opposite post, where Marner was lying in wait for an uncontested redirection.
Vegas would threaten with the extra man but draw no nearer in the period.
Late in the stanza, captain Radko Gudas upended Jonas Røndbjerg with a hip check that clapped like thunder along the boards, punctuating the period for the hosts.
With 9:20 to play in the contest, Vegas added intrigue, drawing within a goal.
LaCombe lost a contentious puck battle with Jack Eichel, who snapped a crisp centering feed for Barbashev. Dostál made the initial stop but not a second on Barbashev’s follow-up bid.
“You see some of the plays they can make. It was a heck of a test and a good challenge for us,” Quenneville said. “We had to be at our best, and I thought we played hard and eliminated some of their possession game. When you see how they played at the end of the game, we’ll take it.”
With 1:07 left, Poehling scored into the abandoned goal. That insurance marker turned into the game-winning goal after Hertl struck from in tight with six seconds on the clock.
“It was a really good start, a detailed game, an honest game and a defense-first game,” Kreider said. “We were on our heels a little bit too much at the end there, but we found a way.”