Marchessault helps Golden Knights rally past Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and two assists, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 4-2 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.
James Neal and William Karlsson each had a goal and an assist, Colin Miller scored, and David Perron had two assists for the Golden Knights (13-6-1), who took over first place in the Pacific Division.

"It's a big win tonight," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "I thought our team played excellent all night long, and somebody said we are in first place. Is that official? Perfect."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Ducks highlights]
Maxime Lagace had 17 saves in his 10th consecutive start for Vegas.
"My work was limited. The guys played really strong," Lagace said. "They didn't have too many opportunities. It was a mental game. Just to stay focused."

Josh Manson and Derek Grant scored for Anaheim (10-8-3), which had won three in a row. John Gibson made 45 saves.
"You can't rely on the guy in the net to stand on his head. [Gibson] did that tonight," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "The score was 4-2 and it could've been 10. That's how good he played."
Neal backhanded a rebound into the net at 11:18 of the third period to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 lead.
Karlsson scored for the third straight game, redirecting a centering pass to make it 4-2 with two minutes left.

"It seems like we're just giving the puck away a lot of the time," Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano said.
The Golden Knights tied the score 2-2 on Miller's goal at 2:21 of the third. Neal beat Manson and Grant to a loose puck and he passed back to an open Perron along the wall. Perron passed the puck to Miller just inside the blue line and he scored on a slap shot for his third goal of the season.
Both teams scored power-play goals in the second period.
Cogliano drew an interference penalty on defenseman Brayden McNabb. Anaheim defenseman Hampus Lindholm took a shot from just above the left circle and Grant deflected the puck past Lagace for a 2-0 lead at 5:59.
"They were taking it to us even in the beginning, but we found a way to get some goals," Manson said. "[Gibson] was holding us in there for most of the game, but when you give up [49] shots, that's what is going to happen."
Vegas, which outshot Anaheim 49-19, had a 30-11 advantage when Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen was called for interference on William Carrier. Marchessault scored on the ensuing power play at 19:07, getting assists from former Anaheim players Shea Theodore and Perron, to cut the lead to 2-1.

"Gibson made some unbelievable saves, but we just stayed with it and kept playing the game and we found a way to get that big power-play goal," Gallant said.
The Ducks, who were outshot 20-7 in the first period, took a 1-0 lead at 9:16 on Manson's third goal, all in the past four games.
Manson skated the puck out of his zone, through neutral ice and into the Vegas zone with Miller the only player between Manson and the net.
Manson attempted to take a shot, but fanned. The puck continued to slide and went past Miller, leaving Manson one-one-one with Lagace, and Manson shot the puck between Lagace's pads.
The Ducks were outshot 16-6 in the first period in their previous home game against the Florida Panthers on Sunday, but also led 1-0 in a game they won 3-2.

The past five opponents for the Ducks have combined for 222 shots on goal.
"Something needs to be figured out," Cogliano said. "The 2-0 lead wasn't really a true tale of the game. We just got lucky. The score should've been a lot more if we didn't have [Gibson] in there. We shouldn't kid ourselves. We weren't even close."

Goal of the game

Miller's tying goal at 2:21 of the third period.

Save of the game

Lagace's save on Rickard Rakell with 16 seconds left in the first period.

Highlight of the game

Neal's tie-breaking goal at 11:18 of the third period.

They said it

"I know we have it in this room, I know we believed in ourselves the entire game. We had a strong first two periods. We didn't score on all our chances, but we stuck to it. I felt like we finished the game strong." -- Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore
"What we were doing out there was not anywhere near what we're capable of doing. We've got a lot of work ahead of us right now." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle

Need to know

The Golden Knights matched the NHL record for most wins by a team through the first 20 games of an inaugural season. The Montreal Canadiens went 13-7-0 with 26 points in 1917-18. … Manson came into the game second in the NHL among defensemen at plus-12. He finished minus-one. … Gibson has combined for 170 saves in his past four starts. … Eight players have at least five goals for Vegas, which leads the NHL.

What's next

Golden Knights: Host the San Jose Sharks on Friday (6 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Ducks: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (4 p.m. ET; PRIME, TSN3, NHL.TV)