Golden Knights defeat Ducks for fifth win in row

ANAHEIM -- The Vegas Golden Knights scored four straight goals after falling behind early and won their fifth game in a row, 4-1 against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.
Shea Theodore, Cody Eakin, William Karlsson and David Perron scored for the Golden Knights (24-9-2), and Malcolm Subban made 27 saves.

WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Ducks highlights]
Vegas is 9-0-1 its past 10 games, the longest point streak by a team in its inaugural season in NHL history. The Florida Panthers had five wins and four ties during a nine-game streak Jan. 8-30, 1994.
"One game at a time and that's a big thing for us," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "We try and battle and work hard every night, and tonight we found a way."
Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks (16-14-8), who lost for the first time in three games, and goaltender John Gibson made 24 saves.
"We got away from the things that have made us successful," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "We started to turn the puck over and we got spread out."
After being called for roughing against Ryan Getzlaf at 13:03 of the second period, Eakin came out of the penalty box and gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead. Hampus Lindholm was waiting for Eakin at center ice, but Eakin spun around the Ducks' defenseman and beat Gibson between his pads on a breakaway at 15:12.
"We made mistakes and gave them some easier goals," Lindholm said. "On the second goal, that's on me. After those things, on the next shift, we have to get that back."

Vegas forward James Neal nearly scored on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box in the first period, but Gibson made the save at 13:57.
Karlsson scored 28 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. After defenseman Josh Manson turned over the puck in the Anaheim zone, Jonathan Marchessault had time to pull up in the left circle and wait to pass to Karlsson, who redirected the puck past Gibson.
Perron scored into an empty net with 1:13 remaining to make it 4-1.
The Golden Knights are 3-0-0 against the Ducks and in first place in the Western Conference.
"They played well," Getzlaf said. "They are where they are in the standings because they play hard. They've bought into the team game they've needed to play."
Rakell scored his Anaheim-leading 11th of the season on the first shot on goal of the game. After Vegas forward Erik Haula blocked defenseman Brandon Montour's slap shot, Jakob Silfverberg got to the puck and passed from behind the net to Rakell, whose one-timer at 1:40 made it 1-0.
Subban, making his second start since Dec. 8, stopped all 27 shots he faced the rest of the way.
"He's a competitor," Eakin said of Subban. "He's an athlete. He's a player."
The Golden Knights tied it 1-1 on a goal by Theodore at 17:50. Oscar Lindberg dug the puck off the right wall in the Ducks zone to Tomas Nosek, who passed to Theodore for a wrist shot past Gibson from the left circle.
"I feel like when I get the puck, I'm thinking shot a little bit more," said Theodore, who played 53 games for the Ducks from 2015-17. "I feel like I'm getting lucky on some of the goals."
Theodore was traded by Anaheim to Vegas at the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21. Perron played 28 games for the Ducks during the 2015-16 season, and Karlsson played 18 games for Anaheim in 2014-15.
The Golden Knights played significantly better in the second and third periods.
"We know what our strengths are, and that break in between (periods), we come in and we talk about it a little bit and we just focus," Theodore said. "I feel like that's definitely a good thing about our team."

Goal of the game

Eakin's goal at 15:12 of the second period.

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Save of the game

Subban stopping Antoine Vermette at 18:05 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Theodore's goal at 17:50 of the first period.

They said it

"We didn't start the game off great. I thought the first eight minutes we were sloppy, but after that I thought we played a great game and a great road game." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
"They raised their level of play and we didn't. After that first 10-12 minutes, we didn't do what we needed to do." -- Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf

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Need to know

Ducks center Ryan Kesler made his season debut following recovery from hip surgery on June 8. He was minus-3 with three shots on goal, two hits and three giveaways in 16:27, and went 6-for-13 on face-offs. ... Rakell has three goals and one assist in the past three games. … Vegas forward Reilly Smith played his 400th NHL game. ... Referee Dan O'Rourke worked his 1,000th NHL game. He made his NHL debut as a linesman on Oct. 2, 1999.

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What's next

Golden Knights: At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Ducks:Host the Calgary Flames on Friday (10 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV)