Analysis: Golden Knights’ offense pulls another playoff vanishing act in Game 2 loss

Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson (71) skates against Anaheim Ducks defenseman John Carlson (74) during the first period of Game 2 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Photo by: Steve Marcus

The Golden Knights’ first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series this season played out eerily similar to last year’s with a slow start followed by a bounce back to win three straight games and prevail in six games.

Now they must show some fight to avoid repeating the same fate that doomed them in last year’s second-round series.

The Knights’ offense disappeared in a lopsided five-game series against the Oilers a year ago, and all the omens are signaling that the problem has now resurfaced.

The Anaheim Ducks silenced the Golden Knights’ attack again in Game 2 of the teams’ best-of-seven series Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena, capturing a 3-1 victory to even the series at one game apiece.

Vegas failed to score until six seconds remained in the game when captain Mark Stone tipped in a power-play score off a shot from Jack Eichel.

“We had some almost plays,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said, “but we’re just not getting a key play at the right time.”

The outage is a concern for Vegas not just because of its history but also the competition. Anaheim has been one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL the last two seasons.

The franchise looked like it was bound to snap a 171-game streak without a shutout dating back to a 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks in the 2024-2025 season opener before Stone’s late goal.

Those Sharks finished last in the league by nine points, going down as one of the worst teams in NHL history.

This year’s Golden Knights are too talented to ever be mentioned in the same breath.

“We’ve got to be hungrier and stronger around the puck,” Vegas forward William Karlsson said.

That’s eerily similar to what Vegas’ teams said the last two years before meeting postseason ends well short of their aims because of an inability to score.

Splashy trade acquisitions like forward Mitch Marner and defenseman Rasmus Andersson were supposed to prevent that from happening this year.

But the Knights have looked as meek as ever in two games against the Ducks.

They’re exceedingly fortunate to be headed on the road for Game 3 at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at the Honda Center with the series tied.

“They split here,” Tortorella said. “We’ve got to go in and try to get a game out of there.”

Anaheim has arguably been the better team in all six periods of action so far. The Ducks have now outpaced the Knights by 15 shots on goal.

Vegas prevailed controversially in Game 1, with Ivan Barbashev’s game-winning goal coming only after Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe slowed down anticipating an icing call.   

LaCombe earlier in the game had missed a wide-open net from inches away when he inexplicably decided to pass and shoot.

Anaheim didn’t make the same mistakes in Game 2.

Vegas goalie Carter Hart was again solid — finishing with 25 saves on 27 shots — but couldn’t do much against close-range goals from young stars Bennett Sennecke and Leo Carlsson.

The Golden Knights might not have created chances that dangerous all night aside from perhaps a burst down the slot from Karlsson in the third period that Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal caged as one of his 23 saves on 24 shots.

“It's 1-0 and Bill has a great chance and the guy makes a great save,” Tortorella said. “You look at those types of situations: If we score, does that jumpstart us a little bit? Give the goalie credit.”

Most of the 18,018 people announced in attendance had already left by the time the pyrotechnics shot to celebrate Stone’s first goal in six games.

It followed an empty-net goal from Ducks winger Jansen Harkins, who drew into the lineup for the first time this postseason against the Knights.

The Ducks’ youth and speed continued to keep the Knights off kilter.

““They are playing a little faster than us, quicker decisions, winning more battles than we do,” Karlsson said.

Vegas left Game 1 dissatisfied with its performance despite the result and vowed to improve for Game 2.

Instead, it played worse. Vegas was strong defensively — highlighted by killing all five of its penalties including eight minutes worth to start the game —but dreadful on the other side of the ice.

The same ghost from the past two playoffs is haunting the Golden Knights. again. There’s too much at stake not to exorcise it immediately.

“We’re going to keep our composure and go about our business,” Tortorella said. “This team has always been really good in these type of situations, so I have full confidence we’re going to find our way.”