Shea Theodore scored twice against his former team to lead the visiting Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
William Karlsson, who also started his NHL career with the Ducks, and Alexander Holtz also scored. Victor Olofsson, Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertl all collected two assists for Vegas, which has won all three meetings with Anaheim so far this season.
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who are riding a 6-1-1 run.
Jackson LaCombe replied for Anaheim, which has lost two of three games and won only twice in six outings. Goalie John Gibson stopped 30 shots.
Karlsson, who was named to Sweden’s Four Nation’s team for the February tournament earlier in the day, netted his first goal in nine games at 16:26 of the first period when he pounced on a loose puck during a flurry of action and slipped it home for his fifth goal of the season.
Theodore, named to Canada’s squad along with injured forward Mark Stone, fellow defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and goaltender Adin Hill, doubled the lead at 6:38 of the second period. Theodore followed an odd-man rush and converted a rebound opportunity after Gibson made a sprawling save on the first shot.
LaCombe put the Ducks on the board with his fourth goal of the season late in the second, beating the screened Samsonov with a long point shot.
But Holtz restored Vegas’ two-goal edge at 3:05 of the third period when he finished a perfectly executed give-and-go with Tanner Pearson during a two-on-one rush for his second of the season.
Theodore’s empty-net goal with 44 seconds remaining, his third goal of the season, rounded out the scoring.
The loss was doubly disappointing for the Ducks. Forward Trevor Zegras left the game early in the second period. He and Karlsson locked skates in an accidental collision, and Zegras appeared to twist something with his right leg as he fell.
–Field Level Media