Ducks small line-up changes pay big dividends in Game 4, tie series with Vegas

The Anaheim Ducks Ian Moore #3 scores a goal during an NHL playoffs game against The Vegas Golden Knights on May 10th, 2026 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. ANAHEIM, Calif. – Stanley Cup Playoff series are often described as chess matches, with each side making moves the other must respond to.

Unlike the Anaheim Ducks ’ 6-game run through the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, this second-round tussle with the Vegas Golden Knights had been much more akin to that strategic back and forth entering Game 4. For the Ducks on Sunday, Anaheim made its most sweeping moves yet, with three players making notable returns to the line-up–Mason McTavish, Ian Moore and Olen Zellweger–and each paid their share of dividends, as the Ducks bounced back to take Game 4, 4-3 , and even the series up, 2-2, heading back to the desert. Anaheim plays the pivotal Game 5 in Vegas on Tuesday.

McTavish was already one of the more startling chess moves of the series, as the $7-million-per-season man was a healthy scratch in Games 2 and 3. Moore was also a healthy scratch in both games, as Jansen Harkins and Ross Johnston came in for physicality in the bottom-six forwards. McTavish had notably been an attention-grabbing healthy scratch in a tough run late in the regular season, but a healthy scratch in the playoffs is a different animal for a supposed cornerstone player that just wrapped the first season of a six-year deal.

“It's never easy. Never an easy decision,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said after Game 2, “but I think it's not punishment. I'd say, hey, we want to have more troops in the series.