How do you stop a flock of high-flying Ducks? You clip their wings.
Also, unleash Mitch Marner.
At least that was the remedy the Vegas Golden Knights used Friday to rout the Ducks 6-2 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, which continues Sunday at Honda Center.
Half the goals came from Marner, who also had an assist. Defensemen Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb and winger Brett Howden had the other goals — with Howden’s coming into an empty net — handing the Ducks their first loss in four games at home this postseason.
Read more:'We kept the momentum.' Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson power Ducks to Game 2 win over Vegas
Beckett Sennecke and Chris Kreider scored in the third period for the Ducks. But by then the game was all but decided, with Vegas scoring three first-period goals — on just eight shots — and never looking back.
“It wasn't a great start,” Alex Killorn said. “It's tough to win a game when you put yourself in spots like that. The kind of mistakes that we made are not typical of our team.
“But it’s a seven-game series.”
The fast start followed two games in which the plodding Golden Knights watched the Ducks skate rings around them. So they got physical Friday, using an aggressive forecheck to ground the speedy young Ducks. Vegas also did a good job in the first two periods of limiting the Ducks’ possession time in the offensive zone.
“They're a bigger team, and that's how they play,” Jackson LaCombe said. “They’re experienced too. They played well tonight and we just have to match that the next game.”
Vegas, which never led in Game 2, went in front 66 seconds into Game 3 when Theodore, who started his NHL career in Anaheim, got past Ducks winger Cutter Gauthier to the puck on the inside edge of the right circle and beat Lukas Dostal cleanly on the first shot of the night.
Jack Eichel got an assist on the goal, his 10th of the postseason.
With Eichel in the penalty box for hooking, McNabb, a former King, doubled the lead with a shorthanded goal less than eight minutes before the first intermission, banging a shot from the center of the left circle just inside the far post.
The Golden Knights killed two penalties on the night and have killed all 11 Ducks power plays in the series.
Marner took advantage of a fortunate bounce to make it 3-0 on a power-play goal with five seconds left in the first period. A shot from Colton Sissons on the right wing ricocheted off Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba and went straight to Marner, who was charging into the slot.
Marner took a couple of whacks at the puck before finally getting it past Dostal.
“That goal certainly was the killer,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “They were desperate. They were hungry.”
Dostal wouldn’t see another shot, with Ville Husso taking over in goal to start the second period. It seemed like a quick hook for Dostal, who came within a few seconds of the Ducks’ first shutout of the season in a 3-1 win in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The change didn’t work, with Marner extending the lead on his next shot midway through the second period.
Marner then completed the hat trick with 2:04 left in the second period, taking a backhand pass from William Karlsson behind the net and skating untouched toward the left circle before beating Husso with a quick snap shot.
A chorus of boos from the sellout crowd at Honda Center chased the Ducks to the locker room after the second period. Sennecke responded, diving headfirst between two defenders and into the crease to knock in the rebound of a Killorn shot from the far edge of the right circle for the Ducks’ first goal 6:30 into the third.
Kreider scored with less than five minutes left.
“I think that there's a lesson to take out of today's game: it's only going to get harder,” Quenneville said. “Every single game, it’s not going to get any easier. So let's get ready to go to war.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
