ANAHEIM, Calif. — It’s not the first time the Vegas Golden Knights have put themselves behind the 8-ball when it comes to penalties.
It was just the first time in the playoffs that it caught up to them. Two power-play goals from the Anaheim Ducks made Game 4 an uphill climb for the Knights in a 4-3 loss at Honda Center.
The PK, which gave up one goal in 27 chances, saw two go by goaltender Carter Hart to give the Ducks life in this series.
“It’s been pretty damn good for quite a while here,” Colton Sissons said. “Sometimes, bounces will go that way. It shouldn’t shake our confidence as a whole.”
There isn’t much that could have been done on some of the penalties. Dylan Coghlan’s interference call was a call that could’ve gone either way — more than likely a no-call, than a whistle.
That penalty led to Beckett Sennecke’s power-play goal that opened the scoring.
“You’re not going to be perfect every night,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “They shot the puck a little more, and they were getting bounces. It is what it is.”
McNabb’s cross-check at 16:25 didn’t lead to a goal, but it came one minute after Mikael Granlund gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
Another goal would’ve put the Knights in deeper trouble.
Cole Smith’s slashing call with 3:17 left in the second comes off an extended shift, leading to the Knights’ fourth line standing no chance against Anaheim’s top line.
That led to Alex Killorn’s go-ahead goal 1 minute, 15 seconds later, which banked off Hart to put the Knights behind going into the third period.
The end result was Hart giving up four goals on 23 shots and making this series a best-of-three with home-ice advantage back in the Knights’ favor.
It also wound up being Hart’s worst performance of the series when looking at the goals that were given up.
Sennecke’s goal was a one-timer from the top of the circle that beat Hart’s five-hole. Granlund’s goal was a knuckler off the stick that took a couple of hops and rolled by him.
Killorn’s initial shot appeared to be saved, but it bounced off Hart to give Anaheim the lead.
Ian Cole’s goal that gave the Ducks a two-goal cushion in the third was a point shot that beat Hart with no traffic.
“We’re not going to overthink it,” McNabb said. “We’ll be ready for the next one.”
The Knights were outshot 23-21, marking the third time in the series they’ve lost the shots-on-goal battle.
They converted on their chances in Game 3. That wasn’t the case Sunday.
“We did have some good looks,” Sissons said. “We always want more. I don’t think we had a ton tonight, but we had enough really good looks to put up some goals and just didn’t go.”
The series now heads back to Las Vegas. One where it feels like the Ducks are still in control after they’ve dictated a majority of the play for three games.
That’s why they play the games. The Knights have no choice but to turn the page quickly, because they’ll be on the ice Tuesday with another episode of the biggest game of their season.
“I think just the stakes get higher and people raise their level in their game,” Sissons said. “Guys have a lot of experience in this locker room, going deep into a series, and we’ll lean on that again.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
