Recap: Late Lead Slips Away in 4-3 Shootout Loss to Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- In the first-ever shootout held at T-Mobile Arena, the Ducks found themselves on the losing end of a 4-3 final against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. It marked the second consecutive shootout loss for Anaheim, which fell to 11-11-6 (28 points) on the season and 1-2-3 (five points) on its season-long six-game road trip.

Alex Tuch scored the lone shootout goal in the third round, while Corey Perry, Rickard Rakell and Ondrej Kase came up empty. Francois Beauchemin, Antoine Vermette and Perry scored three unanswered goals in the second period, while John Gibson (8-10-2) made 40 saves through regulation and overtime. He also stopped Jonathan Marchessault and James Neal in the first two rounds of the shootout.
"We knew this was going to be one of our toughest road trips," said Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle. "We're going to go home and play a tough team tomorrow night. It's just a continuation. The road trip isn't over. We don't get much rest. It's the first road trip I've ever been on in my career that you play six in a row on the road and then come back and play at home off a back to back. That's a new one."
Erik Haula scored twice and Neal also found the back of the net for the Golden Knights, who improved to 11-2-0 at home and 17-9-1 (35 points) overall. Malcolm Subban made 26 saves through regulation and overtime and went 3-for-3 in the shootout for his sixth win of the season (6-2-0).
"We sat back too much in the third," said Perry. "We got away from what we were doing in the second period, like playing on the forecheck and getting pucks in deep. We received a little bit too much in the third period. Those are learning curves throughout a season. We'll fix those and move forward."
The game got off to a rather interesting start when Gibson made a fantastic glove save on Tuch just minutes into the game. Though Gibson's glove clearly stayed on the right side of the goal line, the in-game entertainment crew mistakenly played Vegas' goal song and horn, much to the confusion of the Golden Knights' faithful.

Anaheim's penalty kill rose to the challenge when Brandon Montour was assessed a double minor for high sticking at the 11:25 mark of the first period. The Ducks managed to kill off the four-minute infraction, which also included a breakaway attempt from Chris Wagner, who was denied by Subban's right-pad stop.
Gibson came up big again with under three minutes remaining in the opening frame when he denied Brendan Leipsic in close after the Golden Knights forward pulled off an outside-in move to get around Montour at the top of the far faceoff dot.
Vegas struck first with 1:26 remaining in the first period when Neal's shot from the near corner deflected off Jaycob Megna's stick and sailed over the stripe. The goal was his 13th of the season and snapped a five-game goal-less streak.
The Golden Knights scored again just 16 seconds later when Haula jammed home a rebound off Deryk Engelland's point shot for his ninth goal of the season.
Anaheim answered back 63 seconds into the second period when Beauchemin's point shot made its way through two Golden Knights stationed in front of Subban. It marked Beauchemin's second goal and fifth point of the season.

On a four-minute power play of their own, the Ducks tied the game off a textbook play with great execution. After Beauchemin sent a pass over to Kevin Bieksa, the veteran blueliner fired a slap shot on net. Stationed in front of Subban was Vermette, who got just enough of the shot to change the angle. The Ducks-heavy crowd roared to life as the team erased a two-goal deficit in a span of 3:59. It marked the first multi-point game for Beauchemin since a two-assist game on Oct. 15, 2016 vs. Dallas (with Colorado).

The Ducks tacked on their third unanswered goal of the period at the 16:14 mark when Perry walked in all alone and blew a slap shot past Subban to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead. After Perry stepped onto the ice on a line change, he waited at the far blueline as Adam Henrique gathered the puck in the defensive zone. A crisp pass through the neutral zone found Perry, who recorded his sixth goal and team-leading 20th point of the season. The assist gave Henrique three points (all assists) in three games with the Ducks.

Vegas evened the score with 4:22 remaining in regulation when Haula's shot snuck between Gibson and the nearside post for his second goal of the game.
Overtime was highlighted by tremendous stops from both goaltenders. It began when Gibson robbed Neal on consecutive chances down low in the opening minute. Then it was Subban, who made several dazzling saves when the Ducks were on a 4-on-3 power play. Gibson followed up with a last-second stick save when the Golden Knights were on an abbreviated power play to force the game into a shootout.
"We talked about what we wanted to do," said Perry. "We had a plan. Sometimes it's works and sometimes it doesn't. He made a pretty big save on Monty back door. We had a couple chances. Raks [Rakell] hit the post. It can go either way at that point."
After the shootout went scoreless through two rounds, Tuch broke through in the third round and Subban followed up with a stop on Kase to complete the comeback for Vegas.
The Ducks will return home to open a three-game homestand beginning tomorrow night against the Ottawa Senators.