Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves in his first start for the Vegas Golden Knights, helping them to a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night in Las Vegas.
Brett Howden, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev scored and Keegan Kolesar had two assists for the Golden Knights, who have won three in a row to start the season for the third straight year.
Troy Terry scored for the Ducks, who won their season opener 2-0 at the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Anaheim goaltender James Reimer also made his team debut after he was claimed off waivers from the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, and he made 29 saves.
Hertl gave Vegas a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 5:18 of the third period.
Ducks center Isac Lundestrom broke his stick on a faceoff to start the power play in the Vegas zone, and that prevented Anaheim from clearing the puck before Mark Stone centered Hertl for a redirection.
Vegas extended the lead to 3-1 at 14:09 of the third period when Kolesar stole the puck from rookie defenseman Tristan Luneau in the Anaheim zone and fed it back to Dorofeyev for a snap shot from the right circle.
The Golden Knights took a 1-0 lead at 6:17 of the first period.
Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler briefly had possession behind the Anaheim net, but Kolesar intercepted his backhand pass up the ice and fed Alex Pietrangelo in the slot. Pietrangelo’s shot was saved, but the puck fell in the crease and Howden was there to sweep it into the net before Reimer could react.
The Ducks tied it 1-1 at 11:49 of the first.
Ivan Barbashev had the puck at the left point and tried to feed Shea Theodore as he crossed the blue line, but it was intercepted by Terry for a breakaway. Terry waited until he reached the inside edge of the right circle before beating Samsonov on his shortside.
–Field Level Media
