TC Martin

Golden Knights Take Game 1 in Round 2   

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After a wild first round series with Utah, the Vegas Golden Knights didn't have much time to rest before they squared off against the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Semifinals. 

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The Knights picked up where they left off with a solid gritty performance on Monday night as they defeated Anaheim 3-1 at T-Mobile Arena to take the opening game of the best of seven series. 

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After a scoreless first period, Vegas took a 1-0 lead in the second as Bett Howden continued his goal streak to four games. Mikael Grandlund tied the game with 4:58 to go however 1:05 later, Ivan Barbashev scored off a terrific pass from Pavel Dorfeyev to put the Knights back on top 2-1.  

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The goal did not come without controversy.  Barbashev clearly sent the puck into the Ducks' zone before reaching the red line. Typically, the result of the play would have been an icing call, which would result in a faceoff in the Golden Knights' defensive zone. But as Vegas center Jack Eichel and Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe raced toward the puck, linesperson Bevan Mills waved off icing. Eichel prevented LaCombe from cleanly clearing the puck and Dorofeyev intercepted it. He skated in and fed Barbashev for a tap-in goal against a stunned Ducks defense. 

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The blatant missed call cost the Ducks the game.  Anaheim head coach Joel Quenneville was irate when screaming at the officials. "Clearly, I disagreed with the call. Clearly, it was icing. But their guy stopped skating, which really made me annoyed," "We just scored. It was a huge call and it was an easy call," Quenneville said.

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ESPN rules analyst Dave Jackson said that Barbashev clearly committed icing, but that Mills made a judgment call that Eichel would get to the puck before LaCombe could.  

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The Knights were effective again with their penalty kill.  Like Utah in the previous series, Anaheim could not muster anything on their four power play opportunities.  The Ducks converted an amazing 8 of 16 chances in their series win against Edmonton.  Vegas has now killed 17 of 18 penalties in their first seven games of these playoffs.  

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These two teams will get back at it on Wednesday night for Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena. ​​