Ducks defenseman Simon Benoit, right, defends against Vegas Golden Knights center Chandler Stephenson during the first period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Ducks celebrate after right wing Jakob Silfverberg (33) scored during the first period of their game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks right wing Jakob Silfverberg (33) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the first period of their game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Michael Amadio controls the puck as Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler pursues him during the first period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Jake Leschyshyn, left, passes as Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm defends during the first period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Michael Amadio, left, celebrates with defenseman Ben Hutton after Hutton scored during the first period of their game against the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks goaltender John Gibson looks up at the scoreboard as the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a goal by defenseman Ben Hutton (17) during the first period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault controls the puck as Ducks defenseman Jamie Drysdale pursues him during the first period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo shoots during the first period of their game against the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks left wing Sonny Milano shoots against Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Laurent Brossoit as Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo defends during the second period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks goaltender John Gibson, right, hangs his head as the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate after center Jonathan Marchessault (81) scored a goal during the second period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the second period of their game against the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Laurent Brossoit stops a shot by Ducks left wing Sonny Milano during the second period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler, left, hugs left wing Nicolas Deslauriers after Deslauriers scored a goal during the second period of their game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Jake Leschyshyn, Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (22), and right wing Jakob Silfverberg (33) skate to the puck during the second period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy, right, celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period of their game against the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud, left, defends against Ducks defenseman Brendan Guhle during the second period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy (10) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the second period of their game against the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo controls the puck against Ducks left wing Sonny Milano during the second period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks right wing Troy Terry (19) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the third period of their game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Ducks goaltender John Gibson stops a shot by Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault during the third period on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, left, goaltender Laurent Brossoit, center, and defenseman Zach Whitecloud celebrate after a 5-4 victory over the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
ANAHEIM — There aren’t many secrets to the Vegas Golden Knights’ game, and you would think the Ducks would have figured that out by now. The Golden Knights want possession of the puck, want to skate with it and want the opposition to chase them. It’s defense by playing offense.
What the Golden Knights don’t want to do is actually play defense. That’s hard work and it’s something the Ducks finally made them do in the third period of Friday’s game at Honda Center. The Ducks’ inability to do it for the first two periods cost them during a disjointed 5-4 loss, however.
“We didn’t have anything to lose,” Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm said after their rally from a 5-2 deficit in the second period fell short. “That’s the way we should play every game. We don’t have anything really to lose in these games, but for some reason we played on our heels in the first two (periods). It’s a lesson we’ve got to learn.”
Jakob Silfverberg, Nicolas Deslauriers, Trevor Zegras (power play) and Troy Terry (power play) scored for the Ducks, who remained mired in fifth place in the Pacific Division, out of a playoff spot with a 26-22-9 record. Terry’s goal was his team-leading 28th, extending his career high.
Nicolas Roy scored twice for Vegas, and Ben Hutton, Jonathan Marchessault and Michael Amadio also scored. The Golden Knights (31-21-4) jumped from fourth place into third in the Pacific. Vegas beat the Ducks for the 20th time in 24 games since entering the league in 2017-18.
The Ducks started well enough, striking first on Silfverberg’s first goal in 12 games, a sharp-angled shot from along the goal line only 4:47 into the game. Vegas countered on Ben Hutton’s goal at the seven-minute mark, a preview of things to come during another lackluster second period.
Vegas took the game to the Ducks and built a 5-2 lead after Amadio boxed out Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler in front of John Gibson’s net and tapped a centering pass from teammate Chandler Stephenson past the defenseless goaltender at 9:44 of the second period.
Then a funny thing happened.
Slowly but certainly, the Ducks began to take control of the game, receiving a huge jolt of energy from Zegras’ power-play goal that cut their deficit to 5-3 at 18:38 of the middle period. Rickard Rakell and Jamie Drysdale assisted on the goal, an unstoppable shot from the right faceoff circle.
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Terry’s power-play goal cut it to 5-4 at 6:39 of the third, and suddenly the Ducks had the Golden Knights on their heels and playing a desperate game in an attempt to preserve their lead. The Ducks won battles for loose pucks and generated sustained pressure at long last.
The Ducks couldn’t produce the tying goal, though.
An interference penalty called on Lindholm at 13:43 of the final period blunted some but certainly not all of the Ducks’ momentum. They continued to search for the equalizer, but couldn’t click even after Gibson was pulled for a sixth attacker with 1:36 left in the final period.
“We shot ourselves in the foot in the first (period) and part of the second,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “I think in the third what happened wasn’t that we got our game going but we quit turning pucks over in the neutral zone. It’s as simple as that. We weren’t turning pucks over, we got (offensive)-zone time, we got lots of looks at the net. In the first period, I think we turned it over nine, maybe 10 times. It cost us valuable ‘O-zone’ time. Second period, same thing.
