The Vegas Golden Knights are suddenly tied in this Stanley Cup Final series.
This is why: They played on Tuesday one of the more dangerous opponents you can encounter.
A seriously desperate one.
That was the Carolina Hurricanes — essentially playing for their Cup lives and refusing to arrive at the doorstep of elimination — in beating the Knights 5-3 in Game 4 of this best-of-seven at T-Mobile Arena.
A loss would have put the Hurricanes down 3-1 in the series. It might not have ended things, but it would have been in the neighborhood.
As it is, the teams will engage in Game 5 on Thursday back in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s a best-of-three now.
“Just get ready for the next game and flush this,” Knights coach John Tortorella said. “We worked hard to get back in this game. I thought we had a really good third period. So we need to flush it and get ready for the next one. I don’t think we should be looking any further than the next game.”
Defense anyone?
They came back. Down 2-0. Down 3-1. Tied things at 3-3 after two periods.
But for two teams that were known for being stingy defensively coming into the series, things haven’t gone in that direction.
The ice shifts from one period to the next with Grade-A chances from each side. It happened again Tuesday.
One thing is certain: The Knights need to figure out Carolina center Jordan Staal.
He scored twice Tuesday, including what proved to be the game-winner with 13:28 remaining when his flailing backhand shot while falling down slipped past Knights goalie Carter Hart.
“Staal is killing us in front of the net,” Tortorella said. “We have to do a better job around the net. That last one, everybody panicked and chased the corner. I know it takes a funny bounce, but we have to do a better job.”
He didn’t think defense was the reason they lost, but his players sure sounded as if lack of defense made a huge difference in the outcome.
That they weren’t good enough in front of Hart, who again made some timely saves at critical times.
That there were too many giveaways with 23. That they need to dial things back and trust the system and each other and block shots and make plays and win battles and that Hart will be there when needed most.
“I mean, we did come back and tie it up and were playing some good hockey,” Knights center Colton Sissons said. “We had our chances to go ahead in the game and just couldn’t find a way. It was unfortunate.
“Obviously, down the stretch they’re trying to win a hockey game so they’re defending and weren’t going to make it easy on us. We still had some great chances. It just didn’t go our way.”
It’s hard to explain how each team is finding more and more ways to score. But the margin is so close. The first three games were decided by a goal and this one two, with Carolina’s fifth score Tuesday coming via an empty-netter.
Lots of weird bounces. Lots of shot tips. Lots of everything so far over four games.
But the Knights weren’t good enough Tuesday. Certainly not for 60 minutes. Tortorella said he doesn’t bother looking at giveaways on a statistics sheet, but it’s true that turnovers hurt his team at inopportune times.
And yet they still saw Jack Eichel hit the crossbar off a face-off in the third period. They were still that close at tying this thing up and perhaps forcing what would have been a third overtime game in the series.
Cleaning up
“Obviously, need some (better) execution,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “Sometimes it’s not always going to work out. There are just things we need to clean up.
“I think we like playing on the road too. We feed off it. A good chance to get together, enjoy a couple meals, watch the video, regroup and get ready to go.”
That’s their fate now in a series tied 2-2.
It happens. A good team like Carolina is tough to beat.
But a desperate team like Carolina?
Now that’s a challenge.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
