Whatever happens in Vegas, ought to stay in Vegas as far the Golden Knights are concerned. 
On Tuesday night, the Knights stunk up The Strip in lackluster 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Game 5 win gives the Habs a 3-2 series lead heading home for Game 6 on Thursday.
“It’s best-of-7 for a reason,” the Golden Knights’ Brayden McNabb said. “We didn’t play good at all today. We played right into their game; we didn’t play our game at all.”
Carey Price made 26 saves for the win.
“We’re definitely excited with what we’re doing right now, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” Montreal coach Luke Richardson said. “We finish off games the right way. We’re going to go into the next game, and it’s one game to win.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened the scoring in the first period to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
Eric Stall scored in the seventh minute of the middle frame to push the lead to 2-0.
“Hard to explain. We didn’t have great legs, didn’t have great execution,” Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer said. “You have to give them credit. I thought they played a real good road game. And then obviously falling behind early against that team is tough. That’s not a formula for success, we’ve shown.”
Cole Caufield scored at 9:49 of the second period, his goal came off the power play for a 3-0 lead.
Vegas was held in check with few shooting lanes to pressure Price.
The Golden Knights were scoreless on two power play chances, Caulfield’s goal gave Montreal one in two chances with the extra skater.
Max Pacioretty scored in the early minutes of the third period to give Vegas some life, but the Montreal defense smothered whatever push the Knights had left.
Nick Suzuki added an empty-net goal to seal the win with 66 seconds left in the game.
“I think at the start of the playoffs, a lot of people counted us out,” Suzuki said. “I think just the belief in this group … we’re a really confident team right now.”
Suzuki also had two assists for Montreal.
Vegas needs to find some energy to force a Game 7 back on The Strip or the season is over and out.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves in the loss.
The question now is whether or not he starts in Game 6.
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