LAS VEGAS -- It took 13 home games, but the Vegas Golden Knights played their first-ever shootout at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night.
Fittingly, Vegas, which has smashed virtually every NHL record for a team in its inaugural season, came away with a victory.
Alex Tuch, taking part in the first shootout of his career after sweating out a tripping penalty in overtime, scored on a backhand to give the Golden Knights a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks before a sellout crowd of 17,608.
Tuch was the third and final Golden Knights shooter after Ducks goalie John Gibson, who finished with 40 saves, stopped attempts by Jonathan Marchessault and James Neal.
"I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to sleep tonight," Tuch said. "It was a whole roller coaster (of emotions) all night. We're up 2-0, down 3-2, tied at 3-3, then (I'm) in the box in overtime. ...
"Hey, that's how hockey goes. That's how the game is played. You just have to battle through it and try to get the two points at the end of it, and I was glad we were able to do that."
After Tuch's goal, Vegas goalie Malcolm Subban, who earlier stopped attempts by Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell, made a pad save on Ondrej Kase to seal the win.
"It was my first shootout, so I was kind of nervous," Subban said. "I just tried to stay with the shooter and not give them anything to shoot at. It's hard to explain. You just try and stay focused and stay with the shooter."
Subban was mobbed by his teammates after he stopped Kase's shot to end it.
"It was a huge relief," Subban said. "Our team played such a good game, and I didn't want to get the loss in that kind of way. I thought we deserved to win the game, and I just tried to bear down and get the win."
Neal, Oscar Lindberg and Erik Haula scored goals for Vegas (17-9-1). The Golden Knights improved to 11-2-0 at home this season, including 5-0 in overtime games.
Francois Beauchemin, Antoine Vermette and Perry scored for Anaheim, which finished a six-game road trip with a 1-2-3 record.
Vegas dominated the first period, firing 19 shots on Gibson, who had a handful of highlight-reel saves. The Golden Knights finally broke through with two goals in a 16-second span, on rebounds converted by Neal, who floated a shot over a sprawled Gibson, and Lindberg in the last two minutes of the period.
Anaheim (11-11-6) tightened up defensively and answered three consecutive goals on just eight shots in the second period to take a 3-2 lead, holding the Golden Knights to just five shots, including none in the first 8 1/2 minutes.
Beauchemin started the comeback at 1:03 with a blast from the blue line that eluded Subban, who was screened by Vermette.
Vermette tied it four minutes later when he deflected a blue-line blast by defenseman Kevin Bieksa.
Perry then gave Anaheim the lead when he broke in free after taking a long pass from center Adam Henrique and rifled a shot over Subban's right shoulder.
That lead held up until Neal stole the puck in the corner and passed it to Haula, who fired it between the post and Gibson's pad to make it 3-3 with 4:22 left in regulation.
Anaheim had a four-on-three power play in overtime thanks to Tuch's tripping penalty on Rakell near center ice, but Subban came up several dazzling saves to help force the shootout.
"We talked about what we wanted to do," Perry said of the overtime power play. "We had a plan. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. He made a pretty big save on Monty (defenseman Brandon Montour) back door. We had a couple chances. Raks (Rakell) hit the post. It can go either way at that point."
NOTES: Anaheim RW Rickard Rakell, who leads the team with eight goals, returned to the starting lineup after missing five games with an upper-body injury. ... Ducks D Hampus Lindholm flew home before the game because of an upper-body injury, and he could miss the team's games this weekend. Lindholm sat out the first seven games of the season recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and also missed a Nov. 15 game against Boston with a lower-body injury. To take Lindholm's spot in the lineup, the Ducks recalled D Jaycob Megna from San Diego of the AHL. ... Anaheim also was without D Jakob Silfverberg, who missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. Also scratched for the Ducks were D Korbinian Holzer and C Joseph Blandisi. D Jon Merrill and D Brad Hunt were scratched by the Golden Knights.
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