Theodore scores twice in Golden Knights win against Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Shea Theodore scored two goals for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 4-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.

William Karlsson and Alexander Holtz scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves for the Golden Knights (17-7-3), who were coming off a 1-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday and have won six of eight (6-1-1). Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl and Victor Olofsson each had two assists.

"(Tuesday) night, it was the third period where we kind of bent but didn't break," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I thought we had a better third period tonight, able to extend the lead and really limit their damage, so a lot of that is puck management, making them go 200 feet. That way, you get to use everybody, and nobody is fatigued."

Jackson LaCombe scored, and John Gibson made 29 saves for the Ducks (10-11-3), who had won two of three.

Anaheim forward Trevor Zegras had to be helped off the ice with a lower-body injury 40 seconds into the second period and did not return.

Zegras, 23, missed 51 games last season with a groin injury and a broken ankle.

Ducks coach Greg Cronin did not have an update after the game, but said his absence already had an impact.

"What happens is you’re down a forward and you rotate different bodies," Cronin said. "The chemistry that you had through your lines, which have been consistent for a couple games, gets disrupted, but it happens. It’s hockey and guys get hurt."

Karlsson gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 16:26 of the first period. Nicolas Hague took a wrist shot from above the left circle that glanced off the skate of Karlsson and was saved by Gibson. The rebound came out to the side of Gibson and Karlsson spun away from Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler before sweeping the puck into the open net.

"They did a good job breaking it out on us," LaCombe said. "We just got to be harder in getting pucks deep and recovering pucks. I didn’t think we got a lot of possession time, so I think we've just got to work on that."

Both teams combined for just five shots on goal through the first 10 minutes before Vegas finished with a 12-7 advantage in the first period.

"Halfway through the first period, I didn't see the same pace that we usually play with," Cronin said. "For whatever reason, we didn't have the same speed to our game."

Theodore extended it to 2-0 at 6:38 of the second period. Gibson made a save on Olofsson at the end of a 2-on-1, but Theodore came in behind the play and scored the rebound.

"We gave them two goals," Cronin said. "We gave them 120-foot 2-on-1s on poor decisions at the offensive blue line. ... You can't give them those chances."

LaCombe cut it to 2-1 at 18:01, scoring for the second straight game with a wrist shot from the left point two seconds after Anaheim's first power play ended.

Holtz made it 3-1 at 3:05 of the third period when he converted on another 2-on-1 rush for Vegas after receiving a pass from Tanner Pearson, who had lured Gibson out of the crease.

"I was trying to get the puck to (Pearson) early and stay in the fight and he was able to find me in a really good spot with an open net," Holtz said.

Theodore scored into an empty net with 44 seconds left for the 4-1 final.

"Good on him. He had lots of jump," Cassidy said of Theodore, who played his first two seasons with the Ducks from 2015-17. "Sometimes, when you go back to where you were drafted, you want to play well, and he certainly did. He's been good. He's had a really good stretch here of games."

It marked the first time this season the Golden Knights have allowed one goal or fewer in back-to-back games.

"I think we've got to get to the ‘D’ a little more often," Cassidy said. "It's not going to happen all the time, but it's something we wanted to focus on coming out of training camp. I don't think we've hit that level defensively yet, but I thought today was one of our better ones."

NOTES: Eichel (eight goals, 30 assists in 27 games) required the second-fewest games by an American player in NHL history to record 30 assists in a single season, tying Pat LaFontaine (27 games in 1992-93) and Craig Janney (also 27 games in 1992-93). Blake Wheeler (26 games in 2018-19) accomplished the feat the fastest. … Cassidy coached his 700th NHL game. ... The Ducks went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and have killed 20 of their past 21 penalties. ... Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler returned after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury and was minus-2 with no shots on goal in 20:08 of ice time.