Ducks vs. Golden Knights Game 5: Key takeaways as Vegas wins in overtime

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The Golden Knights improved to 3-0 in overtime in this postseason. They are 5-0 in franchise history when winning Game 5 of a 2-2 series, and have closed all five out in Game 6. That includes their win over the Utah Mammoth in the first round of these playoffs. Game 6 is on Thursday night in Anaheim. Beckett Sennecke opened the scoring with 7:24 remaining in the first period, with a rebound goal in front of the Vegas net on the power play, jamming the puck underneath the pads of Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart off a shot by Cutter Gauthier. Dorofeyev answered for Vegas with 3:47 remaining in the first period, with one of the best plays of his young NHL career. He stole the puck from Chris Kreider, who was looking to start an odd-man rush the other way, then skated through the slot and sniped a shot past Lukas Dostal to tie the game 1-1 late in the first period. The Golden Knights carried play for much of the first period, but Dostal stood tall in net to hold the Ducks in it. Things flipped in the second period, with Anaheim outshooting Vegas 17-6, but Hart answered the bell. He stopped all 17 shots in that frame, and the teams were tied heading into the final period for the first time in the series. Tomas Hertl scored the go-ahead goal for the Golden Knights 4:48 into the third period. It was his second goal in as many games after he snapped a 29-game goal drought in Game 4. The Golden Knights’ defense clamped down until Olen Zellweger tied the game with three minutes remaining in regulation. The Ducks zipped the puck around the Vegas zone, and Gauthier found a seam pass through the heart of the defense right to Zellweger’s tape. His laser of a wrist shot beat Hart to send the game to overtime. Midway through the first period, Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb landed a late hit on Anaheim forward Ryan Poehling in the neutral zone. The puck had just slipped through Poehling’s skates when McNabb crunched Poehling into the boards, knocking him out for the rest of the game and prompting an official review. After the review, McNabb was assessed a five-minute major penalty for interference and a game misconduct that ended his night. Major penalties for interference are rare, but rule 56.4 states that a referee, “at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence, to a player guilty of interfering with an opponent.” Once the play was ruled a major, the misconduct was automatically assessed because Poehling was injured on the play. Vegas played the final 51 minutes of the game without McNabb, who has averaged more than 22 minutes of ice time during the playoffs. His absence led to Ben Hutton and Dylan Coghlan seeing elevated minutes, and both handled them well. The loss of Poehling left the Ducks without their third-line center and one of their top penalty-killers. And they didn’t have one of their top performers in these playoffs. The speedy, defensive-minded Poehling has scored four times to be among Anaheim’s leaders. Ducks coach Joel Quenneville took a committee approach to fill Poehling’s minutes. Leo Carlsson and Mikael Granlund were double-shifted as they played between Mason McTavish and Gauthier. Gauthier moved to the middle for one shift as top-line winger Troy Terry filled his spot on right wing. Poehling typically is the first to hop over the boards with Alex Killorn when the Ducks go on the penalty kill. With the center unavailable on Pavel Mintyukov’s first-period slashing penalty against Vegas star Mitch Marner, rookie Tim Washe played with both Killorn and Granlund. With a goal in his fourth consecutive game, Sennecke joined Auston Matthews, Nicklas Backstrom and Logan Couture as rookies with four-game goal streaks in the playoffs over the last 25 years. Matthews scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs in four straight games in 2017. Couture did it for the San Jose Sharks in 2011 and Backstrom had goals in four straight contests for the Washington Capitals in 2008. Sennecke scored in a Game 3 victory over Edmonton in the first round, but that was his only goal and point of the series. He started his current goal streak in the Game 2 win over the Golden Knights. His five goals in all tied Bobby Ryan (2008-09) for the most by a Ducks rookie in a single postseason. The score also gave Anaheim power-play goals in back-to-back games after starting the series 0-for-11. Dorofeyev’s sensational goal to open the scoring for the Golden Knights was only the start of what was an up-and-down night for the Russian winger. For a player who isn’t exactly known for his defensive acumen, Dorofeyev made several great defensive plays with his stick. Aside from the stick lift on Kreider to set up his goal, he also won battle after battle along the wall in the Anaheim zone. Midway through the second period, Dorofeyev blocked a slap shot off the inside of his knee and crumbled to the ice in pain. The trainer came out to help before Dorofeyev eventually skated off on his own power, and was helped by teammates down the tunnel to the dressing room. Dorofeyev returned to the game later in that period and was effective for Vegas down the stretch, then scored the game-winner in overtime by batting the puck out of mid-air. It was Dorofeyev’s seventh goal of the playoffs, tying him with teammate Brett Howden, Matt Boldy and Logan Stankoven for the league lead. Zellweger played 76 games for the Ducks during the regular season. Most of them were spent on the third defensive pairing, and then the 22-year-old was scratched for Tyson Hinds late in the year as Quenneville favored the size of Hinds, who spent most of his season in the American Hockey League. That continued into the playoffs as Zellweger was in the press box for the first nine contests. But with Quenneville deciding to inject more mobility and puck movement in his blue line, Zellweger got the call for Game 4. He only played 11 minutes, 52 seconds but got an assist on a third-period goal. And then he delivered again Tuesday with his first playoff goal being a crucial one to tie the game with 3:05 remaining. “I’m just trying to communicate and get to my spots,” Zellweger said of returning to the lineup. “When I’m watching from above, I’m trying to see the situations I’d be in.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms