Golden Knights stay perfect with win over Anaheim Ducks lose opener, 4-1

On The Strip, Adin Hill made 22 saves  and the Vegas Golden Knights stopped the Anaheim Ducks, 4-1, on Saturday night.“I don’t think that was our best game by any means, but we found a way to win. That’s what’s important,” Vegas’ Jack Eichel said. “‘Hilly’ made some big saves for us, it was good to see ‘Theo’ get one. ‘Stevie,’ obviously, great play with Paul [Cotter] there, and it was a good team effort.”

Vegas took a 1-0 lead with 13 seconds left on the first period clock, the goal was off a power play.

“I saw there was about 13 seconds. I tried to get another attack in,” Eichel said. “I was just trying to get to the net knowing there’s not a lot of time. Couple of fortuitus bounces and it was a good goal.”

Chandler Stephenson  made 2-0 with 15 minutes gone in the middle frame.

“We’re doing a better job at being in sync (on the penalty kill),” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s been obviously really good. Goaltending makes the save. There’s always going to be chances and some tough bounces, but we haven’t had to deal with tough bounces yet.”

Heck of a play he made,” Stephenson said. “I didn’t have to do much. It’s been nice to see him bloom and come into his own here. He’s going to get more trust in the coaches, and he’s a good player.”

Vegas’ Shea Theodore scored on the power play to make it 3-0 at 6:16 of the third.

“We played hard. I’m not disappointed with the effort. The execution got sloppy,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “That was a game of inches, for me, on puck battles a number of times, and they won those battles. They’re a veteran team, they know how to win, they make the right plays and they execute. But I’m proud of the way that the guys played. They played hard, and we have to package that up and do it again tomorrow (against the Carolina Hurricanes).”

The Knights went 3-for-3 on the power play.

Mason McTavish got the Ducks on the board 29 seconds later for a 3-1 count.

Jonas Rondbjerg scored for Vegas at 17:32 of the third for the 4-1 final.

John Gibson made 34 saves in the loss.