Ducks' Lukas Dostal won the game, but one moment with 5.6 seconds left changed everything
Lukas Dostal gave Joel Quenneville almost everything, and the Anaheim Ducks still had to sweat out the last 5.6 seconds.
That's the twist from Anaheim's 3-1 win in Game 2. The Ducks didn't get the shutout, but they did get the split, and that changed the trip home in a big way with the series now tied 1-1.
For a franchise that had gone without a shutout since the start of last year, Dostal was 6 seconds from ending one of the ugliest droughts in the league.
Then Mark Stone scored on the power play at 19:54 and ripped that story away.
Anaheim still walks out of Vegas with the better result.
That matters more than the footnote, because losing both road games would have handed Bruce Cassidy's group total control before puck drop in California.
Dostal finished with 22 saves, and the Ducks did a better job protecting the middle of the ice after Game 1 got away from them late.
Vegas had the edge on draws at 63.2 percent, but Anaheim kept enough of the game off its heels.
Beckett Sennecke opened the scoring in the second, Leo Carlsson pushed the lead to 2-0 in the third, and Jansen Harkins added the empty-net goal that turned out to be the cushion Anaheim needed.
The puck slid low through traffic, Stone snapped it home from the left side, and Dostal's shutout bid disappeared with the clock almost empty.
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The Ducks got the split they needed against Golden Knights in game two
That's why Quenneville won't spend much time on the streak that stayed alive.
Anaheim came into this matchup as the lower seed despite a 43-33-6 regular season, so stealing one in Vegas was the real assignment.
The Ducks also answered the noise from Game 1 the right way.
They lost that opener 3-1, then came back two nights later and took control before Vegas found life at the final horn.
Carlsson keeps sitting in the middle of it.
His goal was his 4th of the playoffs, and Troy Terry picked up his 6th assist, giving Anaheim's top group another push when it needed one.
Now the pressure shifts. The Ducks head home with the split, the crowd, and a series that feels reset instead of slipping.
That's a lot different from talking all day about a shutout drought that almost ended.
Stone spoiled the clean finish. Anaheim still grabbed the bigger win.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Josh Doan | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ryan McLeod | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Zach Benson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Bowen Byram | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kirby Dach | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Greenway | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jansen Harkins | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Chris Kreider | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan Poehling | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Troy Terry | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Shea Theodore | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||