SUNRISE, FL – A dominant competitor will, from time to time, show signs of weakness, lapses in judgement, essentially being less than perfect, but in the end, will almost always end up on the winning side of things. That may be true of the Vegas Golden Knights who are one win away from hoisting their first Stanley Cup after a 3-2 regulation win against the Florida Panthers in Game Four of their Final series.
On the strength of two goals by Chandler Stephenson, two assists each by Mark Stone and Nicolas Hague and Adin Hill stopping 29 of 31 shots, Vegas stifled Florida and now has a chance to clinch the series Tuesday night in The Fortress.
Despite some quirky plays and some momentary lapses, Vegas played confidently and never really allowed the game to get out of their grasp. Depth and discipline seem to be carrying the series for the Golden Knights, never really allowing Florida much room to gain any sort of edge in this ice fight.
With Game Three fresh in their mind, Vegas began the night putting pressure on the Florida defense right from the opening draw, looking for that first advantage and it didn’t take long to get it.
After sending the games first four shots on the Panther goal, the Golden Knights confidently controlled play and then found their opening after a poorly timed line change by Florida.
Vegas’ Zach Whitecloud protected the puck along the side boards until he found Chandler Stephenson with space, streaking toward the Florida blue line. He hit the speeding centerman with a pass, sending him in all alone on Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Stephenson slipped a greasy one through the wickets to give the Western Conference champs the early lead. It was Stephenson’s ninth of the Spring season.
The early marker seemed to wake-up Florida who responded with a flurry of chances on Vegas goaltender Adin Hill. The best one involved Matthew Tkachuk just four minutes into the period. The prickly power forward found himself in-close on the right side of the net, but Hill answered with a left pad save.
Vegas countered with a chance by Ivan Barbashev just seconds later when he nearly converted a pass from behind the night past Bobrovsky, but the Florida gatekeeper turned it into the corner.
The Golden Knights continued with the pressure.
With just under six minutes remaining in the period, Shea Theodore meat-hammered a drive from the right point that William Karlsson dropped his cleaver on, redirecting the puck on net. Bobrovsky barely got his right pad out to stop.
Before the period, Florida had a golden opportunity when Anton Lundell stepped over the blue line and launched a deadly strike that just barely missed the cross bar before striking glass.
The period ended with Vegas leading in shots 13-12, but that was misleading. Vegas puck possession enabled the controlling of play, similar to how Game Three unfolded. Vegas led in hits 15-5 and in blocked shots 10-5. The same issue Florida had in Game Three.
Vegas started the second period similar to how they played in the first frame. More pressure on the Florida defense. Several shots threatened, but none found their way across the goal line.
Then the stellar officiating reared its ugly head. Vegas’ Mark Stone while skating up ice thought it would be nice to slash the stick out of the hands of Florida’s Marc Staal, a clear interference penalty as the puck was not near him. No call was made.
But seconds later, with Stone on the opposite side of the ice, the Vegas forward collected the puck and went to turn, falling with Staal’s stick, since recovered, nearby. Staal was called for tripping and went to the box, but Vegas failed to convert.
But Vegas wouldn’t have to wait too long to increase their lead.
Nicolas Hague started the play in the neutral zone, dishing the puck off to Mark Stone who cruised into the Florida zone, stopping when he reached the side boards. Stone then found
Chandler Stephenson and his fully loaded stick, the one-timer sailing past Bobrovsky after a slight deflection from a defenseman in front of him. It was his second of the game and tenth of the postseason.
Then more from Vegas. Jonathan Marchessault chased the puck into the corner to Bobrovsky’s left. The ensuing battle for it resulted in Marchessault Hague sent a drive which struck players in front before bouncing to the right of Bobrovsky and to William Karlsson who swiped the puck into the open net. Bobrovsky reacted late and had no change. The Golden Knights had a 3-0 lead on Karlsson’s eleventh of the playoffs.
Then finally some good fortune for the Panthers with less than four minutes to play in the period. Florida advanced the play out of their own zone when Anton Lundell fed Aleksander Barkov. He skated through the neutral zone and into Vegas’ territory. Brandon Montour followed him in and sent a drive on net. The puck first hit Brayden McNabb’s right skate on the way toward the net before being redirected off Shea Theodore’s leg and then finally getting past Hill to put the Panthers on the board. It was Montour’s eighth of the postseason.
The play ignited the dormant home crowd and gave the Panthers life.
Before the period ended, Vegas’ Jack Eichel was struck by a shot from the point on the left ear and left the game.
Vegas extended their lead in shots to 23-19, in hits 24-12 and in blocked shots 18-11.
With desperation starting them right in the face, the Panthers began to take some risks and one of them paid off just less than four minutes into the final period.
Lundell helped the puck into the zone along the right boards and sent it behind the Vegas net. Montour chased and centered to Barkov who fired a shot near side that went off the cuff of Hill’s catch glove and into then to narrow the Vegas lead to one. It was just Barkov’s 5th goal in the playoffs. The crowd turned raucous and the swinging of white, rally towels made the arena seem like a snow globe. It was now 3-2 Vegas.
Both teams traded modest chances for the next six minutes.
With just under ten minutes to play in the third, Florida took advantage of a missed pass in the neutral zone. Barkov skated into the Vegas zone on the left side, sent a cross-ice pass to Sam Reinhart who controlled the puck with his left skate. His shot on net was saved, but the rebound came to Anton Lundell who nearly got a stick on the puck which was sitting in between sets of legs.
Vegas started to get a little cranky and nearly extended their lead when Marchessault centered from behind the goal lien to a waiting and wide-open Jack Eichel. In a stance like a gun slinger starting down his adversary, Eichel fired a shot that was smothered by Bobrovsky.
With dire conditions and the hope for something similar to the events which transpired to bring us the Game Three result, Florida pulled out the stops. Crashes to the net to join the dumped in puck came with frequency and on two occasions, nearly equalized the score.
Bobrovsky rushed to the bench to allow for the sixth attacker and the full press was on. Florida flooded the Vegas zone with speed and size, several shots fired were blocked just in front of Hill, but never went further.
With pressure brought on by the Florida assault, Vegas’s Alex Pietrangelo fired the puck over the glass with 17.4 seconds left, putting Florida on the power play in the Golden Knights zone.
The Panthers fired a few shots, one of which with one tick left on the clock, but couldn’t get it past the goal line. Vegas won 3-2.
The series returns to Vegas for Game Five on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena. A win by the Golden Knights would secure the six-year-old franchise’s first Cup. A win by the Panthers would bring the series back to Sunrise, Florida for Game Six Friday night.
Dennis Morrell has developed a deeply rooted passion for the great game over many decades as a writer, photographer, goalie coach, netminder and active USA Hockey-certified referee with over 2,000 games on the ice. His passion for the game began in the early 70s with his first glance at skaters battling for the puck at Clayton’s Shaw Park. He has covered nine Stanley Cup Finals and a dozen of the NHL’s special event games. He can be reached at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com and you can follow him on Twitter at DMMORRELL.
PHOTO CREDIT – Bill.Kober@prohockeynews.com
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