Theodore scores two goals to lead the way for VGK in their road win over the Ducks

The Vegas Golden Knights were on fire on offense and led to a dominant win over the Anaheim Ducks.

The Golden Knights beat the Ducks, 4-1, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at the Honda Center.

“I think we have to get to that game more often,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s not going to happen all the time, but it’s something we want to focus on coming out of training camp. I don’t think we hit that level defensively yet, but I thought today was one of our better ones.”

With the win, they improved their record to 17-7-3 for 37 points, and they are 7-4-3 when playing on the road this season. Vegas is also now four points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Pacific Division.

Wednesday night’s game was the third of four meetings between the Knights and Anaheim. The VGK also won the previous two matchups on Oct. 13 and Nov. 13, and their final game against each other will be on Dec. 23 at the T-Mobile Arena.

Wednesday’s game was also the back end of a back-to-back for the Golden Knights after they defeated the Edmonton Oilers the night before.

Vegas will now return home for their next game against the Dallas Stars on Friday, Dec. 6. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at The Fortress.

The Knights offense had an explosive breakthrough in Wednesday night’s game after they struggled to score goals in their past few games.

“We only had one goal last night,” Cassidy said. “We didn’t get any against Utah. Maybe a little change of scenery for the guys sometimes helps.”

Center William Karlsson got the party started in the first period, when he scored off assists from teammates Victor Olofsson and Nicolas Hague. Karlsson’s goal was his fifth of the season while Hague now has two assists on the season.

Later in the second period, defenseman Shea Theodore scored his first goal of the game with help from Olofsson and center Jack Eichel.

Olofsson’s second assist solidified his first two-assist game of the season.

“Olofsson had some jump, he’s been off a little bit,” Cassidy said. “He’s played with Jack before, we’ve been looking at that. So that was one of the reasons we wanted to use his energy.”

Right-wing Alexander Holtz then increased their lead in the third period with his goal off assists from left-wing Tanner Pearson and center Tomas Hertl. With his goal in Wednesday’s game, Holtz now has two goals on the season.

“Hertl is now back in the middle,” Cassidy said. “We moved him to the wing and he’s had the puck a lot. Maybe get Pearson and Holtz a little more involved, and they made a nice play going through the neutral zone.”

Pearson has now increased his assist total to six on the season.

Then with the Ducks leaving an empty net, Theodore scored again for good measure with help from Eichel and Hertl.

“Last night in the third period, we kind of bent but didn’t break,” Cassidy said. “I thought we had a better third period tonight, we were able to extend the lead and really limit their damage.”

After his player of the game multi-goal performance, Theodore now has three goals on the season.

“Shea was good,” Cassidy said. “Those two were bullet shots from him and he closed out on the empty net. He had lots of jump. Sometimes you come back to where you were drafted and you want to play well and he certainly did.”

Eichel also had another multi-point game with two assists and increased his assist total to 30 on the season.

Hertl also joined the multi-point party with Theodore and Eichel with his two assists performance, he now has 12 assists this season.

Goalie Ilya Samsonov bounced back from the six goal shutout loss in his last start with his performance in Wednesday’s game.

“He needed it, he’s a good pro,” Cassidy said. “He’s been in the league, you’re going to have games like that or stretches. He probably needs to get a couple under his belt to feel good about his game and he got one.”

He got the start at goalie for the VGK to give fellow goaltender Adin Hill rest after playing the night before.

“He was solid, we were good in front of him, but he was there when we needed him,” Cassidy said. “He had timely saves and he definitely gave us a chance to win.”

Samsonov finished the game with 19 saves on 20 shots on goal for a .950 save percentage, and increased his record to 6-3-1 on the season.

“It was a tough last night for me in Vegas,” Samsonov said. “The last couple days were really hard practices. I needed to get back on track. I think it’s good to get two points and to continue to work.”