Barbashev gets go-ahead goal in 3rd, Golden Knights edge Ducks in Game 1

LAS VEGAS -- Ivan Barbashev scored the go-ahead goal at 15:02 of the third period, and Vegas Golden Knights recovered for a 3-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.

After Jack Eichel outraced Jackson LaCombe to get an icing waved off, Pavel Dorofeyev was able to skate into the loose puck along the right boards. Dorofeyev then skated through two Ducks defenders and sent a cross-crease backhand pass to Barbashev, who buried the puck into the open net at the left post.

“I just tried to put the puck deep and I saw Jack on the far side going through,” Barbashev said. “I thought for a second he beat him, and that’s why they waved it off. Jack just put a little pressure on him. They turned it over, and (Dorofeyev) made a great play.”

Mitch Marner scored an empty-net goal at 19:54 for the 3-1 final.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be here on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, SN, TVAS).

“It’s Game 1. It is (about) which team finds its game the quickest that has the advantage,” Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said. “We’re fortunate. Fortunate that we found a way to win. They played well. Some of it had to do with them. They played well, but we have some things to work on.”

Brett Howden scored for the fourth straight game, and Carter Hart made 33 saves for the Golden Knights, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.

Mikael Granlund scored, and Lukas Dostal made 19 saves for the Ducks, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific.

“I don’t mind the way we played,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had a lot of pace. Both teams worked hard. It’s a heck of a hockey game. ... I don’t think we had the quantity or the quality we had in the last series, but we did have enough to score more than one."

Howden put Vegas ahead 1-0 at 3:14 of the second period. Marner sent a backdoor pass to a driving Howden, who tapped the puck into an open net at the left post.

“I was just looking at Mitch right away,” Howden said. “He made a great play. I was kind of behind the play, and I could feel that he knew I was coming late. I was going to get there a bit earlier, and he waited it out, and I just tried driving back away.”

LaCombe passed up an opportunity to tie it at 7:05 of the second period. Leo Carlsson spun around Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin before finding LaCombe, who attempted to bump it to Troy Terry instead of shooting at a wide-open net.

“He slid it over, and as soon as I fully turned my head around he wasn’t there,” LaCombe said. “I already made the decision to pass, and so it was just stupid mistake.”

Granlund did tie the game 1-1 at 13:57 of the third period. LaCombe's drive to the net was stopped by the left pad of Hart, but the rebound kicked out to Granlund, who scored through the legs of Brayden McNabb.

However, Vegas regained the lead just 65 seconds later.

“I don’t think anyone in that locker room is satisfied with that win,” Marner said. “We know we can play a lot better. I don’t think we got to our game at all. We gave them some good looks, and Carter made some massive saves.”

NOTES: Golden Knights forward William Karlsson had one shot and was 7-for-13 on face-offs in 11:09 of ice time. It was his first game since Nov. 8 because of a lower-body injury. “There’s some rust,” Tortorella said. “But he won some big face-offs. ... It’s a guy who hasn’t played in six, seven months. He gave us some good minutes.”