Ducks can’t slow Mitch Marner, Golden Knights in Game 3 loss

ANAHEIM — Losing battles, both for the puck and on special teams, was something the Ducks hoped they had moved past with their elevated play for elevated stakes.

But on Friday night at Honda Center, they were outworked and outscored on special teams en route to a 6-2 evisceration by the Vegas Golden Knights, spearheaded by Mitch Marner’s hat trick.

The Golden Knights regained the lead in the best-of-seven second-round series, 2-1, after stealing Game 1 in Vegas and very nearly being shut out in Game 2. Game 4 is Sunday night at Honda Center.

“There’s a lesson to take out of today’s game. It’s only gonna get harder every single game. It’s not gonna get any easier,” said Ducks coach Joel Quenneville, who described Vegas as desperate and hungrier. “So let’s get ready to go to war.”

Beckett Sennecke and Chris Kreider each scored with the game already out of reach. Lukáš Dostál stopped just five of eight shots before being replaced after the first intermission. Ville Husso allowed two more goals on 19 shots in relief.

Quenneville was noncommittal when asked if he would go back to Dostal as his starter for Game 4.

“We’ll see, but, uh, we’ll see,” he said after assigning blame monosyllabically to “both” the defense and goaltending for the Ducks’ 3-0 hole after the opening frame.

Marner buried three goals and assisted on another by Brayden McNabb. Shea Theodore and Brett Howden each contributed a goal and an assist. Carter Hart made 31 saves.

In the first period, it was a pair of Southern California castoffs who became original Golden Knights who snagged a pair of goals for Vegas. Former Duck Theodore and one-time King McNabb scored before Marner made it 3-0. Vegas converted 5-on-5, shorthanded and on the power play to complete its assortment early.

The Ducks fell into a not-so-old habit, giving up a goal on the first shot of the game, this time just 66 seconds into the match. It was Dostál’s third such goal allowed in the playoffs and 13th overall in 2025-26, this one to Theodore, Vegas’ all-time leading scorer from the blue line. He zapped one in from the right circle off a seam pass from Jack Eichel after Mark Stone gained the Ducks’ zone. Stone left the game late in the period and did not play another shift.

After some pressure by the Ducks on their second fruitless power play of the period, Vegas struck shorthanded. Marner slowed the rush and left a drop pass for McNabb, who fired in a shot from the left dot at 12:13. The Ducks have gone 0 for 11 on the power play in the series, with a 3-0 deficit on special teams overall.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have scored three short-handed goals and four empty-netters while conceding just one power-play goal to lead the NHL in penalty-kill percentage and outscore opponents 7-1 when they’re a man down in these playoffs.

“We’re all on the same page. Everyone knows what they’re doing and what their job is. We all sacrifice and do that job,” McNabb said.

Marner effectively ended the game after 20 minutes with a goal that ensured the Ducks were not saved by the bell. A puck jammed into the crease ricocheted around until Pavel Dorofeyev backhanded it to Marner, who stuffed it in with five seconds left on the clock.

“It wasn’t a great start,” Ducks forward Alex Killorn said. “Then they get a PK goal, and then that goal on the power play with whatever it was, five seconds left. It’s tough to win a game when you put yourself in spots like that.”

At the 9:19 and 17:56 marks of the second period, Marner padded the lead with two more goals from close range, completing his first career playoff hat trick in his 79th postseason game.

First, Theodore found Marner wide open to finish a 4-on-3 break during which the Ducks were making a line change. Marner weaved past Husso and tucked the puck in off his backhand.

Then, after Vegas ganged up on Drew Helleson along the boards, former Duck William Karlsson fed Marner below the goal line. He drifted in front of and away from the net, slipping the puck under Husso’s pad for a soft goal.

In nine seasons as a Toronto Maple Leaf, Marner had two multi-goal efforts across 70 outings. But he has two in his past four appearances for Vegas, who acquired him over the summer in a sign-and-trade deal after criticism of his postseason play mounted in Toronto.

“People give him (expletive) all the time about playoffs and this and that, I don’t think it bothers him a lick,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said.

Sennecke denied Hart what would have been his third career playoff shutout with 13:30 to play, diving to stab in a rebound created by Killorn’s sharp-angled bid. Killorn was also on the ice for five of Vegas’ six goals.

“They played well, but I don’t think we brought our best. Maybe we were a little bit too comfortable after last game,” Killorn said. “They’re a great team, we just have to have a little bit of a better start and effort throughout the game.”

Kreider finished with a redirection in front with 4:51 remaining, a goal created by Leo Carlsson’s agility and Troy Terry’s savvy below the goal line. Kreider made no mistake hammering the puck past Hart from the low slot.

But that effort was negated by Howden’s empty-netter with 1:56 left, his sixth goal in nine playoff games after scoring just 12 all season. That puts him in a tie with four other players for the league lead in goals, including Marner, who now paces the NHL in points with 13.

The Ducks will look to draw back even on Mother’s Day with another 6:30 start.