Barbashev seals late Vegas win over Ducks in playoff Game 1

Ivan Barbashev turned a deadlocked Game 1 into a Vegas advantage with 4:58 left in the third period, finishing Pavel Dorofeyev’s pass after officials did not call icing on the sequence. The Golden Knights’ 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena gave Vegas a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference second-round series and underscored how quickly playoff control can change when one team keeps its shape and the other loses a single gap.

The Ducks had enough to threaten an upset. Anaheim outshot Vegas 34-22, Carter Hart made 33 saves for the Golden Knights, and Mikael Granlund tied the game 65 seconds before Barbashev scored. For long stretches, the Ducks forced Vegas to defend deeper than the home side would have preferred, and the numbers showed Anaheim generating pressure without converting enough of it into a sustained edge.

That is what made the final minutes decisive. Brett Howden opened the scoring in the second period, giving Vegas the kind of early foothold that often matters most in the postseason. Anaheim answered in the third, but the response from Vegas was immediate in the only way that mattered: Barbashev stayed in the play, Dorofeyev found him, and the puck went in before the Ducks could settle the game back down. Mitch Marner then added an empty-net goal at 19:54 to finish it.

The disputed call on the winning sequence sharpened Anaheim’s frustration. Ducks players and coach Joel Quenneville were upset that the linesperson waved off icing, allowing Vegas to continue the rush that produced the goal. In a series between two clubs that both survived six-game first-round wins, those marginal decisions and late details carry outsized weight. Anaheim reached the second round for the first time since 2017 after beating Edmonton 5-2 in Game 6; Vegas arrived here after eliminating Utah 5-1 in its own Game 6. Game 2 is set for Wednesday night in Las Vegas, and the next matchup will hinge on whether Anaheim can turn shot volume into control before Vegas’s depth and composure decide another late swing.