en.javascript.info/6-async/03-promise-chaining/01-then-vs-catch/solution.md

The short answer is: no, they are not the equal:

The difference is that if an error happens in f1, then it is handled by .catch here:

promise
  .then(f1)
  .catch(f2);

...But not here:

promise
  .then(f1, f2);

That's because an error is passed down the chain, and in the second code piece there's no chain below f1.

In other words, .then passes results/errors to the next .then/catch. So in the first example, there's a catch below, and in the second one -- there isn't, so the error is unhandled.