The Golden Knights had a chance to take control.
Instead, Anaheim punched back.
The Vegas Golden Knights lost Game 4 to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The final score was 4-3, tying the second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series at two games apiece.
Now the series shifts back to Las Vegas with pressure rising.
The Ducks Hit First
Anaheim started fast.
Rookie Beckett Sennecke opened the scoring at 8:43 in the first period on a power-play slap shot. Alex Killorn and Cutter Gauthier picked up the assists.
That goal gave Sennecke a rare playoff mark.
He joined Sidney Crosby as the only players under 21 years old to record a three-game postseason goal streak in the 21st century.
The Ducks added another first-period goal at 15:25 when Mikael Granlund scored at even strength on a snap shot assisted by Jeffrey Viel.
Vegas answered, but Anaheim had already set the tone.
Vegas Kept Chasing
The Golden Knights did not fold.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored on the power play at 10:22 in the first period, tipping in a shot from close range with assists from Mitchell Marner and Jack Eichel.
Brett Howden added another Vegas goal at 4:04 in the second period. It was his seventh goal of the postseason, with William Karlsson and Marner picking up assists.
But every time Vegas got close, Anaheim found another answer.
Special Teams Hurt Vegas
The biggest problem for the Golden Knights was the penalty kill.
Vegas entered the game with a 93.8% postseason penalty kill rate. In Game 4, the Ducks scored two power-play goals.
That was the difference.
Sennecke scored on the power play in the first period.
Killorn scored what became the game-winning goal on the power play at 17:58 in the second period, with assists from Gauthier and Sennecke.
For a Vegas team that had been strong while short-handed, Game 4 exposed a crack at the wrong time.
Anaheim Got the Big Moments
The Ducks were not overwhelming by volume.
They were just sharper in key moments.
Anaheim scored twice in the first period, once in the second, and once in the third. Ian Moore added the Ducks’ fourth goal early in the third period, recording his first career playoff point.
That goal made the comeback harder for Vegas.
The Golden Knights still had one more push.
Tomas Hertl scored with 1:04 left in the third period to cut the lead to one. Marner and Eichel assisted on the play.
But the late goal was not enough.
Marner Kept Creating
Mitchell Marner was one of the biggest offensive bright spots for Vegas.
He finished Game 4 with three assists, helping on goals by Dorofeyev, Howden, and Hertl. His playmaking pushed his postseason point total to 16.
That mattered because Vegas was missing injured captain Mark Stone.
Without Stone, the Golden Knights still found offense, but they could not fully cover the defensive gaps and special-teams mistakes that gave Anaheim room to win.
Gauthier Matched the Playmaking
Cutter Gauthier gave Anaheim its own three-assist night.
He assisted on Sennecke’s first-period power-play goal, Killorn’s second-period power-play winner, and helped drive the Ducks’ offensive rhythm throughout the game.
That gave both teams a major setup man.
Marner powered the Vegas offense.
Gauthier helped Anaheim land the bigger punches.
Goaltending Told Part of the Story
Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal got the win.
He stopped 18 of 21 shots for a .857 save percentage.
Vegas goalie Carter Hart faced more shots and more pressure.
Hart stopped 19 of 23 shots, finishing with a .826 save percentage.
Neither number tells the whole story by itself.
But in a one-goal playoff game, the extra Anaheim finish mattered.
The Series Comes Back to Vegas
The loss sends the series back to Nevada tied 2-2.
Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m. PDT, with the game scheduled for national broadcast on ESPN.
That turns Game 5 into a massive swing game.
Vegas can retake control at home.
Anaheim can steal the series momentum.
Why It Matters
This was not a blowout.
It was worse than that for Vegas.
It was a winnable playoff game that slipped away because Anaheim took advantage of special teams, timely shooting, and defensive lapses.
The Golden Knights still scored in every period.
They still got three assists from Marner.
They still fought back late.
But playoff hockey is not about almost.
Anaheim tied the series.
Now Vegas has to answer at T-Mobile Arena.
