Ducks edge Golden Knights in Game 4, even Western 2nd Round

ANAHEIM -- Cutter Gauthier had three assists for the Anaheim Ducks in a 4-3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round at Honda Center on Sunday.

The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2 heading to Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, SN, TVAS).

"The first three games, I wasn't getting enough shots," said Gauthier, who led the Ducks with 41 goals during the regular season. "Tonight was a big emphasis on just trying to get in front of guys, get in front of the goalie and stir some things up."

Beckett Sennecke and Alex Killorn each had a goal and an assist, Mikael Granlund and Ian Moore also scored, and Lukas Dostal made 18 saves for the Ducks, the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division, who improved to 4-0 following a loss in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"That was a man's game out there today," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We worked hard and I thought we did a lot of good things."

Pavel Dorofeyev, Brett Howden and Tomas Hertl scored, Mitch Marner had three assists, Jack Eichel had two assists, and Carter Hart made 19 saves for the Golden Knights, the No. 1 seed from the Pacific.

"I have zero worries about this team as far as how we’re going to go about the next few games here, wherever it goes to," Vegas coach John Tortorella said. "I have total trust." 

Vegas played without captain Mark Stone, who was out with an undisclosed injury that caused him to miss the second and third periods of Game 3.

"We’re all just going to have to step up," Vegas forward Colton Sissons said. "It’s what good teams do. Obviously, we miss ‘Stoney,’ but we have a lot of good leaders." 

Anaheim was on the first power play of the game when Killorn passed the puck from off the wall to Sennecke above the right face-off circle and he scored five-hole with a one-timer to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 8:43 of the first period.

"Kind of a broken play on the breakout and then I thought they all collapsed to the house, so I thought I'd just shoot one," Sennecke said.

The Golden Knights went on their first power play 32 seconds later and Dostal couldn't glove a shot by Marner. The puck fell in the crease and Dorofeyev pushed it into the net to tie it 1-1 at 10:22.

Anaheim moved back ahead 2-1 at 15:25 of the first when Jeffrey Viel backhanded a pass off the wall to Granlund above the right face-off circle. He took a couple strides towards the Vegas net before his snap shot went off the stick blade of Vegas forward Cole Smith and under the right armpit of Hart.

"They were shooting the puck a bit more and they were getting some bounces around the net," Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb said.

The Golden Knights tied it 2-2 at 4:04 of the second period.

William Karlsson chased down the puck behind the Anaheim net and made a no-look pass out front to Howden, who held off Ducks forward Tim Washe as he chipped the puck into the net from in front of the crease.

Anaheim, which came into the game 0-for-11 with the man-advantage in the series, scored its second power-play goal when Killorn brought the puck along the goal line and banked it off Hart for a 3-2 lead at 17:58.

"We needed to get out of the second period 2-2," Tortorella said. "That gave them some life."

Moore, who was a healthy scratch the previous two games, scored with a snap shot from above the right circle to make it 4-2 at 3:43 of the third period.

"They scored their fourth goal and they’re just filling the neutral zone and stacking," Tortorella said. "I think that was the most important part of the game." 

The Golden Knights pulled Hart for the extra skater and Hertl redirected the puck into the net to cut it to 4-3 with 1:04 left.

"You move on," McNabb said. "It doesn’t matter what the score was, it could be 6-0, 1-0, 4-3, it’s the best of three now with home ice. We'll get a rest and be ready for the next one." 

NOTES: Marner has an NHL-leading 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in the playoffs. ... Howden is tied for the NHL lead with seven goals in the playoffs. ... Sennecke and Bobby Ryan in 2009 are the only rookies in Anaheim history to score a goal in three straight playoff games. ... Ducks forward Mason McTavish returned after being a healthy scratch the previous two games and had three shots on goal in 11:25.