Ducks "survive" season opener in Vegas, turning 4-goal lead into 1-goal win

LAS VEGAS – Despite embarking on a newly expanded 84-game season, the Anaheim Ducks were the 31st team of the NHL’s 32 to open up the 2026-27 season on Friday, but they made the wait well worth it.

Anaheim scored three goals in a 2:36 span across the first and second periods and charged out to a 4-0 lead to cruise in their season opener over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

Beckett Sennecke scored the first goal of the season on an all-world stretch feed from Leo Carlsson, who collected two points on the night. Alex Killorn and Jeff Malott scored on tips, and Carlsson cleaned up a rebound off the rush for the 4-0 lead in the second period.

Eleven different Ducks found the scoresheet against the team that ended their first Stanley Cup playoff appearance in eight seasons back in May.

Vegas quickly clawed back and swung momentum with two goals in 1:29 the third period, as Shea Theodore’s goal was upheld on review, and Tomas Hertl scored on the ensuing power play for Anaheim’s failed offside challenge.

“They said the puck was out, and that’s what we were concerned about,” Joel Quenneville said, “but they said they tagged up. We got a look at it. I hadn’t looked at that part of it. My fault.”

Vegas cut the deficit to just one goal with 2:50 remaining, and despite a desperation scramble sequence in the final 30 seconds, the Ducks survived.

“First game of the season. Get out with a win,” Carlsson said. “A little bit tighter than we wanted at the end. We expected a push, but we won the game, so it’s good.”

Anaheim (1-0-0, 2 points) returns to Orange County for the home opener on Sunday against former captain Radko Gudas and the Florida Panthers to kick off a two-game home set.

Top Line Top Notch

Two-thirds of Anaheim’s first line made total sense on paper when it first took to the practice ice on Wednesday. No. 1 center Leo Carlsson was flanked by leading goal-scorer Cutter Gauthier, as the Ducks went to their top guns for the top line.

Would Beckett Sennecke join them to totally load up? Maybe first-round pick Nikita Klepov would make his debut, after sliding in seamlessly during the preseason?

Neither got the nod, as new addition AJ Greer made his surprise appearance on the line, and the next day and into Friday’s morning skate and season opener.

Greer made his name as a grinder with the Florida Panthers, and while he hit career highs while playing up in the line-up for an injury-decimated Panthers squad last season, he’d been generally thought to be a bottom-six addition for Anaheim.

While praising Greer’s energy and inside grit, even the line’s architect Joel Quenneville wasn’t totally sure what he had made.“I'm curious to see how he's gonna handle it as well,” Quenneville said Friday morning.

Well, what Quenneville put together was Anaheim’s best line of the night, as the trio dominated early shifts, earned 72.66% of expected goals at five-on-five and each collected a point in their first game of the season.

Greer took on the dirty work on the forecheck, while Carlsson and Gauthier used the space to open up their speed for more chances and their own forecheck battles.

“I can keep up with them and create space for them off the rush,” Greer said. “They've got a lot of poise with the puck, great IQ. Cutter's got an amazing shot. Leo's got amazing hands and can make a play through anything. So, I go to the net. I got to create space for them and make sure that I'm doing my role and playing physical.”

Carlsson made a spectacular play without his linemates to end the first period. He fired a tape-to-tape outlet pass from his own face-off dot to the far blue line past all five Golden Knights on the ice to spring a Beckett Sennecke breakaway.

“I was so tired, so I didn’t really think much,” Carlsson said. “Just saw him all alone. Just tried to pass it as hard as I could, and it ended up being perfect.”

Later in the second period with a 3-0 lead, Gauthier pounced on a turnover at center ice and pushed the pace with Greer on a two-on-one. Gauthier took the shot, which was stopped, and Greer followed up on the rebound, which required a sprawling save from the Vegas netminder.

However, the goalie slid out of his crease, and with the puck sitting at the top of the blue paint, Carlsson swooped in to slam home Anaheim’s fourth of the night.

Lukáš Dostál Sets the Tone

While the Ducks bolted out on the strength of their offensive determination, the four-goal lead came in tandem with a foundational performance in net from Lukáš Dostál.

After a subpar regular season by Dostál’s standards and a playoffs he’d like to put behind him, Dostál set the tone for Anaheim early.

The Czech Olympian made a humongous post-to-post stop on the Ducks’ first penalty kill of the game, and ahead of Carlsson’s outlet pass for Sennecke’s goal, Dostál slammed the door shut on another jam play into the crease.

“He’s so good,” Carlsson said. “He keeps us in games every time. Huge shout for him.”

Vegas had generated just over 1.6 expected goals in all situations through two periods, where Dostál had made 17 saves to that point to keep the Knights off the board.

For his heroics, Dostál credited the young blue line in front of him.“I’m proud of our group, because I thought our guys were unbelievable,” Dostál said. “I honestly felt like we played a simple game. We simplified. We didn’t make anything harder than we had to.”

However, Anaheim and Dostál’s 163-game search for their first shutouts since the season opener of the 2024-25 season (Oct. 12, 2024) would continue, as Vegas got on the board early in the third period.

Shea Theodore would beat Dostál cleanly through some bodies for the first, and after the failed offside challenge, Tomas Hertl scored on some lax netfront defense on the ensuing power play.

With three minutes to go, Dostál couldn’t cover a puck that Brandon Bowman would pot to cut the lead to one, but the 26-year-old came up when it counted in the final minute.

Vegas got several whacks in a desperate goalmouth scramble in the last 30 seconds of the game, but Anaheim’s shot blockers and Dostál made the lead hold up for the first win of the season.

“One of those where we survive,” Dostál said.

Game Note Roundup

• Just one day after inking a six-year, $7.2 million-per-season deal that had many outside of Anaheim asking, “who is Tristan Luneau,” the 22-year-old Ducks blue-liner played a career-high 26:58 of ice time, was not on the ice for a goal against and Anaheim earned 58.3% of the expected goals while Luneau was on the ice at five-on-five. The NHL will get to know Luneau soon enough.

• Noah Warren made his NHL debut and earned his first NHL point on a shot tipped in by Alex Killorn early in the second period. Warren played just 9:33 of ice time, but Anaheim earned 78.23% of the expected goals at five-on-five with Warren on the ice. “It’s a dream come true,” Warren said Friday morning. “I feel proud of myself, and I think I'm ready.”

• Judd Caulfield also made his NHL debut on Friday and played 13:17 of ice time in a fourth-line role.

• Sennecke scored for the second consecutive season opener, making him just the fourth player in Ducks history to do so following Rickard Rakell, Andrew Cogliano and Rob Niedermayer